


Will any of you want me back again?

by AliceNightmary



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Brainwashing, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, De-Aged Tony Stark, Everyone just punches Scott's nose I guess, Extremis, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, May have some Steve Bashing because author is bitter, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Not Wanda Friendly, Really just not team cap friendly, Sharon Carter regrets her choices, Suicidal thoughts on Chpt:5, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark just creates suits for everyone he loves doesn't he?, Torture, add more tags later, author isn't sorry, seriously, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:59:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceNightmary/pseuds/AliceNightmary
Summary: Leaving Tony Stark in an abandoned HYDRA base with no way of getting out was not one of Steve's brightest ideas. Anything could happen. Anything like, HYDRA appearing out of nowhere and taking the genius against his will, or something.You know, nothing too bad though.





	1. Siberia

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm attempting another series again and I'm sort of not sure about this one. I like how I started, I sort of know how I'm going to do this as well. It a soft mixture of MCU and the comics, but I'm creating a new story too. I know nothing of the comics except for pieces of here and there. I'm also scared of disappointing amazing knowledgeable Marvel fans. I'll most likely get my information from the Marvel Wiki, so if any of you want to correct me, please do. I hope you enjoy what I'll be posting!
> 
> Any mistakes are mine, thank you.

_I'm going to die, oh god, I'm going to die_

Tony was chanting those words throughout his mind as he was trying to reach for the latch to get out of his armor. He felt like he couldn't breathe. His arc reactor was damaged. He was dying.  _No_. He told himself. It wasn't in his chest anymore. He was only in pain because of how hard Steve slammed his shield into his chest which happened to have once held the mini arc reactor. 

He was going to be fine, he was going to be rescued soon for sure. FRIDAY would have sent a S.O.S. of his last location to most likely Vision. He would be rescued soon, yes, he just had to be patient.

Tony tilted his head back and thought of what had just happened. He had just seen The Winter Soldier kill his parents. Tony lost control and tried to kill Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' best friend. What was he thinking? What if he had killed him? James was lucky that only his arm blew off and it was the metal arm and not his flesh arm. God, what if he died today because of his outburst of rage?

_Well,_

_you would have more damage done to you besides the shield your father made bashing into your suit's power device_

Yeah, Steve would have killed him. Instead of destroying the reactor in his chest, Steve would have brought the shield down onto his head.

But then Steve would have been justified into killing him. So why wasn't Tony allowed to be angry after finding out the horrible truth about his parents? And after finding out that Steve had lied to him? Tony really didn't want James to die, but it was so painful. This whole time he believed his father had killed himself and his mother by driving drunk and crashing the car. He also hated himself for fighting with his father that day. Hated himself for believing they had more time.

_"He's my friend"_

_"So was I"_

_I guess I fucking wasn't_

He tried to play the fight back in his head. What could he have done differently? How could he have Steve not almost kill him? How could he have stopped himself from hurting Barnes. 

The only thing Tony could think of was if Steve told the god damn truth when he first found out of his parents murder, Tony would have time to process the information. Sure he would have been wary of Barnes in the beginning. Probably avoided him unless he needed help with his arm or gear. But he would have come to terms with the fact that, yes, Barnes is the Winter Soldier. Yes, The Winter Soldier killed his parents, but Barnes had no control over his actions.

He was just so angry, so hurt. Was how he reacted so wrong? How was he supposed to react?

_"Oh, well, he killed my mom and dad. Whoop! Lets just skip pass that and let me explain why I'm here. Barnes, do you wanna hug it out? Yeah, you killed my mom, that's cool. Don't worry about it. I only believed that my dad was responsible for their deaths, but I guess not! And whaaaaaat? Steve knew this whole time? Don't worry about it Steve. You were the one who told me you didn't like secrets, but hey! You kept one of the biggest secret of all time from me? But it's okay if you keep secrets and not me, right? Because you're Captain Fucking America! Rules don't apply to you!"_

Tony sighed as he just stared at an empty space above him. He wondered if Steve would come back for him. Just to make sure if he was okay. Probably stay by his side until help came. Though, Steve mostly likely wouldn't. Why would he come back for someone who tried to kill his best friend.

God, there was no way today could get any worse. 

The sound of footsteps pulled Tony out of his thoughts. Was Vision here?

Tony opened his mouth to call out for his teammate, but the soft scraping noise stopped him. What was that? Did Vision pick up Rogers' shield? It's nice to know where his priorities are.

"Well, well, you must have been very special to Captain America if he just left his shield here for you." Spoke a woman's voice who sounded very amused and very not Vision.

"Who are you?" Tony managed to croak out. Wow, his voice sounded rough.

"I have different names I associate myself when I'm with certain people, Dr. Stark. However, you may call me Madame HYDRA." The woman replied as he heard the steps of more than one person. If Tony wasn't already freezing he would have thought his blood went cold right then and there. Madame HYDRA?

He blinked a few times to clear the sudden blurry vision and noticed he was surrounded by men with that stupid, horrifying symbol on their jacket. 

Sleek military looking uniforms they wore with a green hue and a lady dressed in a warm looking green jacket as she held Steve's shield. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with us, Dr. Stark, and seeing how you're unable to walk with us, don't worry. We'll take care of your transport."

"I know this is a stupid, cliche thing to ask." Tony coughed a bit after his sentence. "But what if I don't want to?"

The woman smiled with genuine amusement. "That is indeed a very stupid question. But I suppose I'll give you a cliche answer along with that." She snapped her fingers and one of the HYDRA men brought out a needle to jab in Tony's neck.  _Why, why always the neck? well, they couldn't reach anywhere else with the armor on._

"You don't have a choice." Madame HYDRA chuckled. "Sweet dreams, Dr. Stark. This might be the last one you'll ever have."

Everything of course, went black.

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

James Rhodes was not a happy person at the moment. It's been three days since Vision went to retrieve his best friend from that frigid abandoned HYDRA base. The last place his friend should have been. It's been three days since Vision came back and told him and Pepper that Tony wasn't where FRIDAY said he was.

FRIDAY was at a loss and Rhodey was pissed. She told him that Tony went to Siberia because he wanted to help Steve and Barnes. He wanted to prove Barnes innocence and help him with his trigger words. Tony understood the Accords weren't perfect, but being held accountable for their actions made sense. The U.N. deciding whether or not to bring the Avengers into another country with permission also made sense. However, that wasn't important right now. Right now, Rhodey wanted to know where his friend was. 

He wanted to believe that Tony was hiding from the world, but FRIDAY sounded extremely worried when she heard Vision explaining that Tony wasn't where she last had contact with him. She told them that without the power of the arc reactor, he would be unable to fly out, so there would be no reason for him to not wait for rescue. Also, when Vision came back, he said that the Iron Man armor wasn't there either. No way would Tony leave without the suit, and it would be near impossible to just carry that out by himself. 

It just didn't make any sense. Where the hell was he?

"He'll turn up, Rhodey. I'm sure he will. And he'll come and give us that stupid happy face he makes when he know he did something he shouldn't have done and.." Pepper choked a bit on her words. She took a deep breathe and cleared her throat. "And we're going to reprimand him for worrying us like that."

Rhodey tried to meet her wary smile, but couldn't find the energy. He looked down at his useless legs and sighed. " Yeah. I'm sure he'll turn up too, Pep."

Pepper nodded and looked around the Avenger's compound. It was dark and empty. No one here but them two and FRIDAY of course. She had already called the construction people to take care of the damages of the floors from when Vision was pushed through, though the repairs might take up to a month depending, but that was okay. The Avengers still needed a home, and no, not the damn Rogue Avengers the people named. Spider-Man and Vision were the current Avengers, however, from what she learned from Rhodey, Spider-man was just a child. She really didn't think a teenager should bear the weight of hero work on his shoulder, so the only active Avenger was Vision.

Even though Vision was powerful, he was still just one man.

Pepper shook her head and pushed Rhodey outside of the compound. For now, the Stark Tower would have to do. She stopped when Vision descended upon them as he held a box in his hands. "What do you have there, Viz?" Rhodey asked.

"A gentlemen asked me to sign and said this was for Mr. Stark. Where should I leave this?" Vision replied.

"Who is it from?" Pepper joined in.

"There is no information from where it was sent from."

"Give it here." Rhodey held his hand out and Vision complied.

"Rhodey, you aren't going to open it are you?" Pepper chastised him.

"What if it's a clue to where Tony is?" He began to open up the package. A letter and an old ass phone was revealed to be inside it. Rhodey began to read.

"Who is it from." Pepper leaned over him to see.

A few seconds passed by and when Rhodey got to the end of the letter, he raised his hand which held the phone. "Fucking Rogers!" He growled and was about to throw it until he was stopped by Vision grabbing his hand.

"If this package was from the Captain, then perhaps he knows where Mr. Stark is." Vision stated coolly. "We must not destroy our only chance of finding him."

"I... God damn it!" Rhodey dropped his head onto his hands. Vision, you have to call him then. If he answers me, I don't think I can keep a cool head to talk to him without yelling. Please." He held the phone towards Vision. "I can't."

Vision nodded as he dialed the only known number programmed into the burner phone.

Silence

"Hello, Captain."

"No, Mr. Stark has not read your letter yet."

"Yes, I do understand that was meant for his eyes only. However, that is not important right now."

"It has come to our understanding that you were the last person to have contact with Mr. Stark."

"The last place he was known to be was Siberia where he was looking for you and Sergeant Barnes."

"No, I do not know what has transpired there. From what we understand, Mr. Stark has been missing for at least three days"

"FRIDAY has claimed that you were the one to disable Mr. Stark's suit, therefore, there was no way he would have been able to leave the base at all."

"I do not want to know, Captain, what transpired between the two of you. What I do want to know is where Mr. Stark is. You were the last person to see him and the last person to talk to him."

"Are you sure, Captain?"

"I see. I shall meet you there then later. Please call me when you arrive. Good bye." Vision hung up.

Pepper tried to relax a bit when she realized how stiff she was throughout the conversation she couldn't hear. "He has no idea where Tony is either?"

"No." Vision replied. "But he does want to help find him. Captain Rogers states that as long as he has a place to stay hidden from General Ross, he'll help us find Mr. Stark."

"Like hell he's coming back here!" Rhodey shouted.

"Colonel, there is no one else. We have no clues, no evidence pointing us towards the direction of Mr. Stark. I understand this isn't a good choice, but it is the only one we have for now. Right now, finding Mr. Stark is important."

Rhodey was giving Vision an undeserved glare, and he knew Vision was right. He had to set aside his anger and his want of punching the 'great' Captain America in the face to find his best friend. God, he was going to regret this once they found Tony. Tony might also feel so betrayed by this decision, but Vision made a good point. "All right, Viz. Wherever and whenever you're going to meet... Bring them into the Stark Tower. That'll be our base of operation for now. FRIDAY will make sure Ross won't find out about them."

"You can't be serious, Rho-" Pepper looked at him like he was out of his mind and truth be told, Rhodey did feel like he wasn't far from it.

"I am, Pep. I know how you feel about them. Imagine how I feel." He motioned towards his legs. "I don't like this anymore than you do, but I just want Tony back.. And Rogers is our only hope right now. The more the merrier. Though I don't think any of us will be merry to see each other.

Pepper became silent and gave an exasperated sigh. "I know. You're right. I'll make sure everything is ready for them. It's just.. It's wrong. Wrong for them to betray Tony like that and then come back?"

Rhodey leaned back against the wheel chair. "Like I said, I don't like it anymore than you do."

Vision was quiet as he turned his head towards the compound. A somber expression on his face. "Yes.. It would be awkward being together again after everything that has happened."

Rhodey gave a sympathetic look at Vision.

Yes, this was a terrible idea, but it was the only one they had.

For now.

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

_It's hard for me to breathe._

_Someone, please help._

_what's wrong with me?_

_I can't move either of my arms._

_Nor my legs._

_My chest is aching, why is it aching?_

_My head hurts as well, why?_

_So much buzzing_

_I feel like my brain is about to explode._

"It's a success. We can see his brain waves on this screen as well as program to do whatever we desire Madame HYDRA."

_Program?_

"Good, then he'll be much more of a success than The Winter Soldier. There will be no need of the Chair for him?"

_Chair?_

"Well, he's not perfect. As long as he comes here to have his memory erased religiously, we shouldn't have a problem. We can make sure he doesn't recognize anyone and erase his memories then reprogram new ones to our liking. Dr. Killian's research on Extremis is fantastic. Tony's formula on the Virus was even better. So that and with a tweak and a soft mixture of the Super Soldier Serum we tried to recreate, we ended up with a better Asset. No need to scramble his brain at all like the other one."  _That's a male voice_

"Will there be a need for Trigger words."  _Female voice_

"That isn't effective in his case. He just needs to be brought in for 'maintenance' once a day if possible. "

_What does that mean. God, why won't the buzzing stop. I swear it's getting louder._

"That seems a bit worrisome. If you fail me and he runs loose. You'll regret it, Doctor. I lost my Winter Soldiers. I don't want to lose this new soldier."

"Yes, yes I understand. Trust me, I will not fail you." 

_Try to open your eyes._

The Asset opened his eyes softly, but shut them quickly because of the bright lamp right above him. Once he got used to the light he looked around the clean white room. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but found himself unable to, so he continued to stare at the bright light bulb until he had a feel for what was going on. There were still murmurs of the continuing conversation, but it was more of a background noise to him.

_What is my name?_

The Asset tried to speak once more, but nothing came out. He also noticed that the only thing he could do was look around. He couldn't move his limbs at all. Not only was he bound, but it was almost as if he was paralyzed. The Asset felt that this would have been the time to panic, but he couldn't voice his concern.

"Ah, look who's awake." A woman's voice spoke up right beside him and he moved his eyes towards it. The woman had a horrible beautiful smile on her face. Long black hair with a hint of a green hue up to her waist, and piercing black eyes. If he could show fear by now he would have.

"Can't speak? Sorry, the good Doctor isn't done with the reprogramming, but he wanted to wake you up for a test run. How are you feeling? I can ask since you won't remember this conversation at all later. Don't worry, we'll give you memories. New ones! It was difficult you know. Trying to salvage the Arc Reactor from your Iron Man armor, but my well chosen team were able to do the best they could. The hardest part was placing it back where it belonged."

_Belonged? Iron Man?_

_"I am Iron Man."_

 "Have a look." The woman held up a mirror for him to look at. He was shirtless and a sort of mechanism was in his chest that was glowing a dull blue. It was badly cracked and the light flickered momentarily. He couldn't see his face. Did he look scared? "Like I said, it was hard for them to fix, but Extremis did well to merge the reactor and you. And although the first Extremis managed to heal your chest, we didn't think it was a good idea to keep it bare. After all, this is your symbol is it not?" She tapped the somewhat broken thing in his chest.

_No no no, that's not supposed to be there. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU PUT IT BACK?_

_She said it was a symbol, my symbol. No, take it out. TAKE IT OUT._

If the Asset could move, he was sure he would have tried to claw out his chest. He didn't care how it looked like it belonged there. How it merged with his skin. He would have used a rusted butter knife if he could.

"You also look younger too! Which is a good thing if we don't want people to recognize you. " Came the male voice again, but the Asset couldn't see him. It sounded like the man was behind him somewhere.

_Younger? I'm nearly fifty years old. What do you mean by that?_

_How would I know that?_

"It's time to go back to sleep. By the time you wake up, you'll be a whole new person programmed by us to do our bidding. We'll have to think of a name for you. You're not a Winter Soldier and to be honest, you're not even a soldier. You're no longer Iron Man for Iron Man is a symbol of hope and goodness. Hmm, I do really want you to be my perfect pet." The woman pondered for a moment. The Asset noticed then how heavy his eyes felt. He closed them.

The male voice behind him joked. "Why not a Lord? A Lord under you, Madame HYDRA." he chuckled.

"No.. No, that is perfect. A Lord under me. Like all men should be beneath me. Lord HYDRA. Doctor, I hope you have your personas ready, because I have a idea for two perfect obedient ones." The woman laughed humorously.

"Of course, Madame HYDRA."

Soft lips pressed softly against his forehead. "I do hope whatever you dreamt of last was sweet." Just as quickly as the Asset felt the kiss, it was gone.

"Because there won't be anymore from now on."


	2. Back Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second Chapter! Yeiy!  
> All the responses I got were so positive! I'm so happy you all enjoy what I have so far!  
> I'll do my best to keep a weekly update.  
> Thank you all again so much!
> 
> I have no Beta so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!

The first step Steve took as he got off the quinjet made him feel proud. Sure he wasn't in Wakanda for a long time, but being there made him miss home. It was a beautiful country, but nothing could beat America. Hearth and Home. He continued to walk straight forward as he saw Vision standing beside a limo with Tony's driver. What was his name? Happy? Both didn't smile, but then again, he rarely saw Vision smile. And Happy seemed like a terrible nickname to give the driver. The real Avengers were home now and they could keep the people safe. Now they could fix the damn Accords. Happy should be.. Well, happy that they're home.

Steve turned away from the two to check on Bucky who had just stepped out of the quinjet after Clint. He looked hesitant, but they could work on that. Steve felt a little ashamed that he was happy Tony was missing. If Tony wasn't missing then Bucky would have been in that stupid Cryo thing by now and nothing would get fixed. Steve did promise that Bucky can choose to be frozen again if that's what he wished, but first they needed to find Tony. Hopefully while they look for Tony, they could also get rid of the Accords and help bring his Bucky back again. He'd have to contact Sharon and ask for her help.

He wondered if she was okay.

The kiss they shared before the airport fight gave him another reason to come home and another reason to get rid of the Accords. He wasn't going to become a tool for the U.N. That, he was sure of. Two, Sharon was his gal and he didn't feel right being away from his gal. It hurt having to lose Peggy, but now? He felt like there would always be a part of Peggy with him now that Sharon and him were dating. Speaking of her, where was she? He'd expect her to come run towards him by now. Maybe she was busy. Busy trying to get everyone to realize that what they did was right.

Steve's smile grew wider as he saw Wanda come out next. Her eyes on Vision and she began to run towards the person she cared for most. While they were in Wakanda, she told Steve how much it ached having to hurt Vision and that when they came back she would apologize as much as she needed to in order to be forgiven by him. He assured her that Vision would understand because they were in love or blossoming into young love. 

She practically leaped into Vision's arms and Clint cat called the both of them. Steve was about to give him an 'are you serious' look until he heard Wanda's shocking cry. He turned back to see her on the ground and Clint running up to them. 

"What the hell, man? Why'd you push her off like that." Clint glared at Vision as he helped Wanda up.

"It did not seem right and we are on a tight schedule. Time for pleasantries can be later. For now, we must get in and Mr. Hogan will drive us to the towers." Vision simply replied.

"Yeah, but you could have been gentle about it. Don't you feel bad?" Sam joined up beside Steve.

"Emotions are complicated, but as I've stated, we must get going. We may talk on the way there." Vision walked towards the door of the limo, opened it, and got in.

Scott stood beside Sam. "Wow, that's what I call an emotionles Ro-.. Uh, Android?"

Clint shook his head. "He's just being an ass right now, Wanda. Once he realizes that you're the best and the only one who will ever love him, he'll come to you instead. Don't be the one chased, be the one chased after."

Natasha snickered as she pulled Bucky beside her. "Is that how you and Laura got together? She chased after you? I've heard differently from her."

"Eh, it's been years, I've forgotten." Clint shrugged as he looked at Happy.

Happy gave a simple nod and got in to the driver's seat. He shut the door.

"Uh, rude. He's been Tony's driver for how long? Doesn't he know that he should be opening the car doors for us to get in?" Clint frowned.

"Tony's been missing for a few days, maybe he's gotten lazy without dough boy." Sam shrugged as he opened the door to get in.

Wanda crossed her arms. "That isn't a good excuse." She got in after Sam.

Bucky looked at them in disbelief. "Are you serious? Are you guys really so upset that he didn't open the door for you guys? Do you realize how spoiled that sounds?"

"You don't understand, Bucky." Steve got in next. "It's his job. He can't slack off just because Tony isn't here."

Bucky stayed silent, but Steve could tell how annoyed he was. That was okay, he would be patient. Bucky just didn't remember the natural order of things. 

Once everyone was inside, Happy started the car and began to drive.

Vision was staring out the window, obviously ignoring Wanda's heart ache look at him. Clint looked ready to call him out on it, but Steve placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. They shouldn't start a fight and it would also be wrong for Clint to get involved in Wanda's love life.

"I need to thank you, Vision." Steve spoke up. "You did the right thing by calling us to help you search for Tony. Now that the real Avengers are here and helping, the people will understand that they need us. And that we need to do what we need to do."

Vision looked away from the window and tilted his head as he asked. "What do you mean by 'the real Avengers'?"

"Well, I know that we're known as the Rogue Avengers, but come on Vision. You're the only Avenger without any of us. Rhodey's injured." Steve didn't miss Sam's flinch when he said 'Rhodey'. "And that Spider kid? You're not seriously thinking of making him an Avenger, are you? You don't have to anymore. That kid can go back to doing whatever he wants or something."

"Mr. Ro-" Vision was cut off.

"Captain." Steve said.

"Pardon?"

"Captain. I think I've earned that title, don't you?"

Vision was silent as he kept his gaze upon Steve. He looked back out the window and then back at Steve. 

"Captain Rogers. I don't think you understand that you all are no longer Avengers. Yes, I am the only Avenger, but I also am the only real Avenger. You all lost that status when you didn't sign the Accords. Ms. Romanoff, you lost that title when you betrayed Mr. Stark."

Natasha made a face. " Just like Steve, I did what I thought was right."

"And your choice has consequences. Learn to live with it. You knew what you were doing." 

Steve interjected. "Vision, I don't know where this attitude of yours is coming from, but I want it to stop. You were very respectful before we left a-"

"And my father is missing" Vision snapped, forcing everyone stared at him silently in shock. "My father is missing and all you want to talk about is the 'real Avengers', calling you Captain, and talking about how rude Mr. Hogan is. I called and asked for your help, yet none of you talked about Mr. Stark once except for you  _Mr._ Rogers. And that was only to boost your own ego of believing you are actually needed. Maybe so. Maybe you are the only choice we have, but do not believe for one second that we will not bring justice down on you for the wrong doings you have done.

You seem to have a wonderful family Mr. Rogers. A family you made by forcing them to turn there backs against my father. I have been learning about emotions, these feelings I have been getting, since I was created. I was always confused, but there is one thing I understand perfectly clear right now." Vision's eyes glowed, signifying his anger. "I understand that I dislike you all immensely. That being said, if you'd like to tell me exactly what happened at the base, that would be more helpful than forcing me to call you  _Captain_."

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

"And evidence of General Ross' abuse of his position was leaked online by an unknown source. There are video evidence of the treatments the Ex- Avengers had suffered in this place called The RAFT. Here we have Wanda Ma-"

Rhodey clenched the T.V. remote in his hand as he watched the News Reporter talk and show security footage of what happened to the others on The Raft. Ross was going down and Tony wasn't here to watch it. How they caught Ross, he didn't know. Just hours ago everything was leaked online. WikiLeak, chatrooms, any type of social media had everything on Ross. Nothing was hidden from the world. No one was claiming they did it either. Just an unknown source that managed to upload every dirty secret on Ross.

Something Tony was trying to do while they were fighting that stupid "Civil War" the media called it. 

"You know, John. While all of this is going on, it's amazing we haven't heard anything from Tony Stark yet. What has it been? Five days?" 

"I know, it's almost like he's hiding."

"Like he knows he should be ashamed of going against a national hero like Captain America. Calling them Rogue Avengers, bullshit! Excuse my French, but come on. Tony Stark should have been grateful he was brought in as an Ave-"

Rhodey turned the T.V. off and threw the remote across the room. How could they say that about Tony?! They don't know him!

_That's why they can talk all that shit about him._

Rhodey clenched his fists as he stared down at his legs again. He was useless now and he couldn't do anything for Tony anymore. God, it hurt thinking about it, but it was true. He didn't blame Vision. It was an accident and he had to move forward.

He leaned back against his chair and sighed. He shouldn't be thinking about himself. They needed to find Tony. And when they find him, everything will be better again. His best friend was annoying at times, but they worked together so well. Tony was always that annoying brother he had to make sure was safe.

God, he hoped Tony was safe.

 The clicking of heels snapped Rhodey out of his thoughts. Pepper walked straight out of the elevator, fuming. She must have seen the news too.

"That's it, I have to call press meeting. I can't have then talk about Tony like this!" She proclaimed. She had her phone out and there it was, the two people who were giving Tony bad press. They weren't the only ones, but they were the ones talking bad about him on screen at the moment.

"What are you going to tell them, Pep? Tony is missing and these people are roasting alive. I'm hoping he's still alive. What are you going to tell them? They all hate him right now after what happened!" Rhodey sighed.

"I can't stand here and listen to them, Rhodey. I'm going to tell them he's sick and.. and tha-"

"Lie to them, Pep? You're just shoving him in front of the vultures. What will happen when, and they will, find out?" Rhodey snapped.

"Rho-"

Vision floated through the floor. "Mrs. Hogan, I am here to inform you that Mr. Rogers and his team are here.

"Oh? FRIDAY why didn't you inform us?" Pepper asked calmy. Rhodey was always amazed at her abilities to stay calm when she needed to be. She was upset and he was sure that if she didn't know how to keep her professionalism, Rogers would see if his Super Soldier ability could keep his balls safe.

"Vision wanted to be the one to tell you, ma'am." FRIDAY simply stated.

The elevator opened up and Rhodey took everything he had, and help from Pepper's hand on his shoulder, to keep him from trying to strangle each and every one of them. Natasha included. Of course she would be with them. Course she would.

Sam looked at Rhodey and stepped ahead of everyone else. "R-Rho-"

"No." Rhodey snapped.

"What?" Sam sounded genuinely confused. God Bless him.

"Only my friends call me Rhodey, Sam. I don't think we're that close anymore."

"Come on, Rho... Colonel"

"No, Sam. This isn't the time. Right now we need to focus on Tony. Maybe after that, I'll be level headed to talk to you about this."

Sam only nodded and stepped back behind Steve. Steve had a distasteful look on his face like he wanted to say something. Thankfully, he didn't.

"We can see where Vision got his new attitude from." Clint snorted.

Scott rolled his eyes. "Guess everything created by Tony Stark is like Tony Stark. Arrogant, snotty, and you can never trust them."

A crack echoed within the silence after Scott's snark. Pepper was hovering above Ant-Man, her fists trembling and everyone could see the burning rage on her face. " I don't know who has told you about Tony Stark, but I can tell you this. You. Know. Nothing. Mr. Lang." She straightened herself and smiled softly. "I will make this clear. Colonel Rhodes, Vision, and I will tell no one of you living here. But living here means you want to help us find Tony. If you don't, you will leave. FRIDAY will show you the door." Pepper turned her backs to them and smiled a little brighter at Rhodey and Vision. "Now, I'm going to go and tell the people of America that Tony is sick a-"

"Or the truth." Vision piped up from the silence.

Pepper blinked. "Vision?"

"Talking about his disappearance could help his search."

Steve finally spoke up. "Let's not do anything drastic, I mean you did call us to help."

"How is alerting the press doing anything drastic? There isn't any harm." 

"Well, I mean. What about stock, or something. Doesn't that ruin a company?"

"Mr. Rogers." Pepper turned to face Steve. "If you can give me a good reason why I shouldn't alert the media, I'll consider it. Vision, same to you. I just can't handle hearing them talk about him like that when they know nothing." Her heals clicked loudly as she walked away, not giving a second glance back.

"The Seven of you will be living within this floor. No rooms of your own." Rhodey glared as he noticed they wanted to protest. " I don't give a damn. This isn't your building, It's Tony's. Right now, FRIDAY, Pepper, Vision, and I run it and keep it safe since Tony is away. When Vision called you, all you needed was a place to stay hidden from Ross. This is your place. Technically, Ross isn't a threat anymore, but half of the public in the U.S. supports the Accords and you all are still wanted criminals. This is pretty generous of us, don't you think?" He wheeled out of the room.

The Rogue Avengers were silent again. Surprisingly it wasn't Clint, Scott, or even Wanda who said anything after that. 

Bucky looked at the others' faces and rubbed his armless shoulder. "So... That Mrs. Hogan, lady? She's pretty scary." 

Scott finally got up from the floor and rubbed his nose. "...Yeah, I think I learned that the hard way."

Vision smiled, but it was a smile that was barely a smile and said. "Yes, Yes she is."

 

 **[ . . . ]**

 

"You, yeah, you. The one in the tie? Oh, who am I kidding, You're all wearing ties. Uh, the one with the offending bright yellow tie. Take it off. It's hurting my eyes." Drawled a young man wearing a stylish black sunglasses. His skin was a soft caramel color, face clean shaven, and his dark brown hair was a bit wild and shaggy.

"But.. But you're wearing glasses, sir." A HYDRA official looking man gave the young man an unimpressed look.

"Yeah, but come on, man. It's an ugly ass color." The young man groaned.

"Lord HYDRA, please concentrate on what you're doing." Quipped a woman who walked up behind the Lord.

"Well, Ma- _Damn_. Whatever you wish for is my command." He grinned as he went back to repairing a red and gold suit of armor. "I can't believe Captain dick-bag ruined my beautiful suit. I can't believe I chose red and gold as my colors. What on earth was I thinking? What do you think, Madame? Black and gold? Red 'eyes' and a red Reactor to power the suit?" He gave a cheeky grin towards the woman beside him.

"Hmm, I want Black and Green." She whispered in his ear. "With a red Reactor and a symbol of HYDRA in the middle of that ominous red glow." She chuckled and pulled away. "Everything you wear will represent me, my Lord. Now, finish your armor. I want to see you give it a test run."

Madame HYDRA walked towards the two goons who were snickering to themselves. These two were in charge of the repainting the dropped shield. "-uess she does like them on the young side." One said.

"What is he, 16 years old? Look how they flirt!" The other guffawed.

"Yes, he is young, but not 16 years old. I'd like to think he's 20, 21 years old." Madame HYDRA joined in.

The goons froze and turned around.

"M-Madame!"

"We.."

"T-The shie-"

"Done! Done is the shield!"

The bufoons stammered and staggered as they reached for the shield and presented it to her. She had a calming smile on her face as she thought of her next move.  _Oh, I'll let them slide for today. We need the people we have for now._ She patted the goon's cheek who held her shield and picked it up. She admired the black and green rings and right in the middle was a green HYDRA symbol. "Oh it's beautiful. Antonio, come look at your Vibranium shield." She held it up for the man to see.

Antonio turned around and his face lit up. "Perfect! It will go well once I recolor the suit." He walked over and reached out to pick up the shield. He stared down at it as he tightened his grip. "I can't believe it. The shield is mine. I don't know why, but inside I.. I feel.."

"Delighted?" Madame HYDRA smirked.

"...Dreadful." He whispered. "Like there's something in the back of my head, scratching a wall which holds all the information that I'm... Nah, forget it. Sorry I said anything, Ophelia." The last name he whispered so the others wouldn't hear her name.

She looked at the young man for what seemed like forever. Assessing him, assessing his emotions. There was one thing to do. "Antonio?"

"Yes, ma'am?" He looked up at her.

"Why don't you take a break and walk with me to Doctor Vern. I want to see his next project and I hear it has something to do with the human brain." Madame smiled and took his arm. Antonio smiled back again as he walked out of the engineering room. Outside of their relationship, they looked like a couple, but only Doctor Vern and the Madame HYDRA knew what it really was. Watching to keep the young one in check and making sure he never broke programming. She always made sure she was with him. He was too valuable to be out of her sight. The Winter Soldier, James Buchanan Barnes, was her best obedient Soldier as long as they knew his Trigger words and brought him back to The Chair when he showed signs of acting out. But, the Winter Soldier was never really hers. Every Handler, every higher up, and anyone who held the red book knew his Trigger words.

Tony Stark was hers and hers alone. He didn't need Trigger words. All he needed was a few keystrokes and he would look at her as if she was his whole world. She let him keep his personality. The first one at least. His memories were of him being raised by HYDRA, he and Ophelia were childhood friends. Giving him the ability to trust her. The second one was complete obedience. That personality would be used when the Armor was fixed and shield in it's hand. No memories at all. Just orders to obey.

"Hello, Doctor." Madame spoke as she walked in the Doctor's area. "I brought Antonio with me today. Want him to test out Project 1?" 

The Doctor gave her a look, but said nothing. 

"Whoa, when did I sign up? Nevermind, I am interested. Hey, Doc, it's not going to mess up Extremis is it? Because it's freaken cool how I can hook up to the internet. Hey! I got no strings on me!" Antonio hummed at the end as he walked around the chair in the middle of the room. "Huh, this sort of looks like those brainwashing Chairs you have in every working Base. You're not gonna brainwash me are you? That would really suck since that would mean I would forget everything about you, Madame HYDRA."

She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you take a seat and find out, genius."

The young man laughed and jumped onto the seat. "All right, Doc! Zap me!" He threw away his sunglasses somewhere behind him.

The machine werred to life and Antonio immediately shut his eyes. The Doctor went to his computer connected to the machine. "He's unconscious... Project 1, hm? Sure you're not getting attached to the boy?"

"Oh, please, Doctor. Don't tell me you think we're in love." She walked around him to look at the sleeping man. "I would have thought that at least you understand why I'm close to him. I don't want to lose this pet. Mine and only mine. No one else can control him except for me."

"And me, since I am the one writing the program."

"Yes, but you do what I tell you to do"

"Of course ma'am, it's my job." There was a soft beep and the machine quieted to a stop.

Antonio opened his eyes." Hey, Vipes, what am I sitting down here for?"

Madame ruffled the man's hair. "Just checking to make sure you were okay. Personel found you on the ground. You must have overworked yourself as always. Come, Antonio, you have to finish your armor."

"Shit, you're right." He paused and his brown eyes flickered a dull blue. His hand went up to gently rub his chest where the broken Reactor was. "And you were right. They are back. Came in today just hours ago. We should give them a warming welcome, shouldn't we?"

"Of course, Antonio. It would be rude of us if we didn't go to say hi."

Antonio grinned as he walked out of the room. "Bye, Doc. Hey, you'll see us on the news won't you? Record that for me, nah, nevermind. I'll do it from there." He stretched his arms above his head. " Let's hurry, Ophelia."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? Alot of Team Steve bashing, but not a lot of retaliation. I'll put that in the next chapter.  
> For now I hope you all have a good day and enjoy yourself!  
> Love you all!!!
> 
> *Throws love and hugs for everyone*


	3. "Your Highness"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, another chapter is done! And again, thank you for all your beautiful comments! You guys are amazing!

T'Challa got off the Quinjet as soon as it landed. He was not a happy King at all right now after finding out what Rogers and his team did. His sister was ruling in his place back in Wakanda while he decided to come back to the U.S. Something must have happened for everyone who were hiding within his country to come back to the place where they were being hunted the most. He also wanted to speak to them about stealing a Quinjet from him. He didn't care if it was important or not, he wanted to know what gave them the right to disrespect him like that.

T'Challa nodded towards Mr. Hogan as he saw him outside of the limousine parked behind him. Mr. Hogan smiled as he opened the door for him. "Not everyday I get to drive a king anywhere. Any place you want to head to first or do you want to go straight to the tower, your Highness?"

"I would like to go straight to the tower if you don't mind. I need to have a talk with your new guests which were once mine." T'Challa got in and looked out the window to see his Quinjet leave. The limousine started up and began to drive. It was quiet. There were no other conversations between the two of them and that was fine. He needed to keep his head cool and calm for when he would meet Rogers again. It didn't make any sense for them to come back here. And Barnes was supposed to go in Cryostasis, so what was the need to be here?

T'Challa sighed as he leaned against the comfortable fabric of the chairs. He would have asked Mrs. Hogan the reason for their return, but he felt more comfortable talking to all of them face to face. He was hoping this would also give him a chance to check up on Tony Stark and ask him his side of the story of Siberia. All he had heard was them complaining and blaming Tony Stark for ruining their lives. Why they put all the blame on him, he didn't understand. From what he understood, Clint Barton and Scott Lang were not supposed to be there. They came because Captain America asked them to come. They fought because Captain America asked them to fight.

"We're glad you're here, your Highness. We could use all the help we can get with finding Tony." Mr. Hogan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

"My wife did tell you that Tony's missing, right?" Mr. Hogan looked at him through the rear view mirror."

"Tony Stark is missing?..." T'Challa asked as he processed the the question that came out of his own mouth.

"Uh...Shit... Your Highness."

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

 "Did you hear how she talked to us? And how Rhodey's words brainwashed Vision too! We should just leave and go back to Wakanda! We're nothing more than prisoners here again!" Wanda almost snarled as she stomped in after the others in the bed room. It was big enough for everyone and had separate beds for them too.

"Wanda, I understand how you feel, but Tony needs our help finding us right now." Steve tried to soothe her anger.

"I say good riddance! After everything he did to us! Putting us in that raft! Why would you want to help him?!" She pointed at the closed door they came from. "See how rude they were towards us?"

"She's right, they can't beg for our help and then treat us like crap. We're the ones doing them a favor, Cap." Sam pointed out.

Steve turned to Sam and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But have to be the better person about it."

Clint rolled his eyes. "No, I think the kid is right, Captain. They're the ones that  _need_ our help."

 _God, was Tony ever their teammate?_ Bucky thought.

"Yeah, I don't think that woman should have punched my face when I was telling the truth." Scott rubbed his nose again. "She's got a mean right hook."

"Her husband was once a boxer. I wouldn't be surprised if he taught her a few moves.

"How could you talk about him like that? Weren't you guys once a team? A family?" Bucky tried to calm the mass.

Clint scoffed. "Look, man. You don't know the whole story, okay? Tony Stark is a selfish bastard who wanted to wash his hands clean and pretend he was innocent in the whole thing. That's why he signed the Accords, so that the blame can be shifted off of him and onto us."

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's... Not what I remember from the summary."

Steve moved away from Same and put both hands on Bucky's shoulders. "Buck, come on. The Accords were to limit us heroes. How could we help anyone if we're limited? We can't support that"

"Mr. Barnes wasn't talking about that at the moment. He was talking about the Accords wanting you to be accountable for your actions."

Everyone faced the doorway where T'Challa was standing. Many gaped at his presence. 

"Y-You're Highness. What are you doing here?" Steve stammered.

"You stole a Quinjet from me and you didn't tell me where you were going. I had to track the stolen Quinjet to find out where you were. What a surprise to find you all here when you were hiding from this Government's eyes."

"Well, your Highness I-"

"No." T'Challa interrupted. "You obviously didn't respect me enough to not steal anything from me. Don't feign respect by calling me 'your Highness' now."

Steve had his head down and said nothing.

Clint tried to defend Steve. "You're not being fair to him, we were called here by Vision to look for Tony an-"

"That's another thing I wanted to talk about. You didn't tell me of Tony Stark's disappearance. Did you think I wouldn't want to know about that?"

Steve snapped up. "We had it under control, we didn't want to worry you."

"Had it under control? You didn't even start looking for him!" A voice came up behind T'Challa.

T'Challa turned around and moved away from the doorway. "Spider-Man?"

Spider-Man was in uniform as he walked in. He staggered a bit when he noticed T'Challa. "Y-Your Highness! Sorry, I didn't even know you were here. Um. Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude..." He bowed ungracefully.

T'Challa raised his hand up to stop th boy. "Please, my sister is acting in my place back in my country. You can just call me T'Challa since we might be working together for a while. Right now, we are equals searching for a missing teammate."

Peter nodded dumbfoundedly. "Y-yes, Lord T'Challa!"

T'Challa thought that was probably the best he could get out of the kid, no, hero.

"You're not supposed to be here, kid." Steve crossed his arms and stared the kid down. "Let the adults handle it."

"Mr. Stark is important to me, Captain. There's no way I'm sitting this one out. You guys haven't even started yet! I know this 'Civil War' thing is still fresh, but years as a team.. Being friends should out weigh the pettiness you all have!"

"You know nothing about Tony Stark!" Wanda accused.

"No, but neither do you."

Sam got in front of Wanda. "Kid, get out. The Cap is right and so is Wanda."

"I'm not a damn kid, so stop calling me a kid." Peter stood his ground.

Bucky had his head in his hand as he tried to tune out the fighting. A terrible buzzing in his ears created by all the shouting everyone was doing. He needed to get out of there. He shook his head, trying to clear out the buzzing. He took a sharp breath and bolted out of the room. He didn't care if anyone noticed or not. He was suffocating.

"You're a little brat who got sucked in because Tony Stark asked you to join." Clint growled.

"Oh, yeah? And how did you come to leave your family behind? Hawkeye senses were tingling?" Spider-man snapped back.

"You need to watch your manners." Natasha stood beside Clint and glared daggers at the youngest of the team.

"Enough!" T'Challa shouted over the others. "This is getting us nowhere in finding Tony. I believe Spider-Man should stay. If the Colonel is unable to join us in search of Tony, then he could help in place of him. He may be young, but he has proven himself capable of keeping up with us."

Steve's jaw was clenched tight as he faced T'Challa and Spider-Man. "Fine, I agree to that. But you should show us your real self. We can't just call you Spider-Man."

"Yes, you can. He is the youngest out of all of us, therefore, he needs his security. Respect that.

Spider-Man was quiet as he was looking up at T'Challa. No one could see his facial expression, but some could guess he was thankful for his words.

"Now, I would like to know how Tony Stark was the last time you saw him, Captain Rogers." 

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

Bucky took another deep breath to clear his head once more. He felt as if he's done that a thousand times now. The buzzing in his head still bothered him, but he didn't feel like he was suffocating anymore after he left the room. God, what was happening? He shouldn't even be here right now. He was supposed to go back in Cryostasis, but Steve came to him and asked him to hold off on that until Tony was found.

Tony was missing and it was they're fault. He knew it. They last saw him and they left him all alone. His suit was disabled and Steve made sure of it. They left him vulnerable and alone. He didn't know the man very well, but he knew he murdered his parents and they kept it a secret from him.

 _Who keeps a secret that big and disturbing from a friend_?

_a **friend**_

Did Steve considered him a friend? He knew that they were childhood friends and they had the "end of the line' thing, but wasn't Tony Steve's friend too? To leave him there like tha-

_You left him there too. Even though you two weren't close enough to be friends. You knew what was right and what was wrong. You left him there too. If you spoke up, Steve would have listened to you. You two could have brought him with you. You can't just blame Steve._

_I left him there too._

_You left him there too._

" _You left me there_ "

Bucky froze and turned around to face the wide unopen window. Facing right at him was a suit of armor that almost resembled Iron Man except this armor was bigger, sharper and menacing. Instead of red and gold it was black and green. The left hand held a shield which was odd since Iron man had no use for a shield. What was odder was the fact this almost looked like Steve's shield. Painted black and green like the armor and had HYDRA's symbol in the middle instead of a star. The other hand was held up and aimed right at Bucky. Like Tony would if he was aiming a repulser at an enemy.

This suit was just like Iron Man's.

Bucky hoped it wasn't.

"You left me there too, Winter Soldier."

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

Viper smirked as she typed a few keystrokes to disable Stark Tower's security system. She pressed a button for the communication device. 

"Fire."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a short chapter today, but I'm gonna try to post another chapter by the end of this week to make up for it my lovelies! I just sort of wanted to leave a somewhat cliff hanger chapter here.  
> I love you all and I hope you have a nice day today!  
> I loves you!


	4. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoohoo! Another chapter done! Enjoy!
> 
> Any mistakes are mine.

Bucky looked around the demolished room and at injured allies. Thankfully no one died, but they were still shook up over the fact that there was no warning before the attack. No alarm or anything and Bucky understood that Stark had the best security around, after all, Stark was the one who created it. So why weren't they informed of an Evil Iron Man right out the window?

_'You left me there'_

No, it was impossible for him to hear those words. He must have imagined it, but then that would mean he was going insane.

_An after effect of having your brain in a blender for 70 years._

_I end up hearing his voice, why? Out of guilt?_

_'You left me there."_

_I'm mad at myself for leaving him there all alone. I was left all alone too back then. When I was on the cold ground and they found me. I had no one. He was left in Siberia, cold and alone. Just like I was._

_I left him there just like how Steve left me there._

"Bucky?" Steve came up from behind him. A couple seconds later he had knocked Steve down and held a gun at his had, given to him by Natasha during the fight with Evil Iron Man. Steve had both his arms raised in surrender and both Sam and Scott were trying to hold him back from pulling the trigger. Bucky's hands were shaking and he dropped the gun as if it was scalding hot. With his remaining strength he pulled away from the others to calm himself down.

He saw Steve get up and walk over to him, but he shook his head. " Stay away from me right now, Steve." Steve, of course, got even closer and hugged him. 

"I understand how difficult it is for you ri-"

"Steve, how can you possibly understand what I'm going through? I attacked you because it felt like you were sneaking up on me. I didn't pull the trigger because I was lucky enough to break away from the programming that moment."

"Bucky, you don't know for sure you were slipping back into that. You just panicked."

"God Damn it, Steve!"

"Language, Bu-"

"Leave me alone!" Bucky pulled away harshly and headed towards the kitchen.

Steve looked hurt, but Sam patted his back. "Give him time, Captain. He still has holes in his memories and he's still suffering from the things HYDRA did to him. Come on, lets go help patch up the others and talk about what just happened here."

Steve nodded and looked at the HYDRA shield that the Suit of Armor left behind. How much the suit almost looked like Tony's was horrifying. Because it meant one thing, Tony was kidnapped by HYDRA. He didn't want to think of it as a possibility. Steve walked over and picked up the black and green shield, staring down at the four slash marks it had from when the armor had defended himself from T'Challa's attack.

"That shield is made out of Vibranium." T'Challa spoke up and Steve turned to him. "I believe that is your shield, Captain Rogers. Or was your shield." Steve briefly questioned how T'Challa got into the Black Panther armor so fast, but never vocalized it." When I asked you how Tony Stark was, you never had your shield with you. I never questioned it, but then again, it never crossed my mind. I only thought about helping Barnes because of what I tried to do to him. We never finished our conversation Captain. You didn't answer me. How was Tony Stark when you and Barnes left?"

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

Rhodey was in the kitchen as he clutched the armrests of his wheelchair. He had not been in the same floor of the building when it was attacked, but damn it, he should have been. He felt so fucking useless in this chair. When he decided enough time had passed, he thought it was best to go back and check what they were doing. When the elevator doors opened, it looked like a bomb went off.

Clint had a glass shard in his side, thankfully no major organs were punctured. He had the worst of the injuries. Wanda had black eye that was starting to form and a few small cuts from falling onto the broken glass on the ground. Natasha only had a couple of cuts on her face and Sam just the same as her. Scott and Steve had a few bruises, but Steve's were almost healed. He didn't know if T'Challa had any wounds, but given that his suit is made of Vibranium, Rhodey highly doubted that. He asked Spider-Man if he was okay, but he replied that the black and green armor never touched him. He never aimed at him. The attacker aimed and fired at Steve and Natasha a lot. Spider-Man said he was surprised that Natasha came out with only a few cuts.

Like the attacker had some deep rooted aggression against the two.

The sound of a slight thud, a curse word, then a louder thud snapped Rhodey towards the abnormal sound. It came from the doorway, but he didn't see anyone. He wheeled towards it , but stopped when he almost fell over by rolling over something. He looked down and noticed Barnes on the ground. "Uh.."

"...It's comfortable down here." Bucky muffly stated.

"Right.. I don't believe that at all Mr. Brainwashed deadly assassin. I didn't see what happened, but I'm going to guess that you walked in here, cried out "fuck", then fell face first onto the clean floor. Well, once clean floor. Your sloppy face just ruined that spot."

"My face isn't sloppy, take that back."

"Grossly sloppy, and that long hair isn't helping."

"I hear long hair is in style nowadays. I can make it into what Sam calls a 'bun'."

"Do you even know how to make a bun?"

"I can try it if I wanted to." Bucky slowly got up. He had a small smile on his face, but it didn't match his eyes.

Rhodey tried to smile back, but found the moment gone. "Uh..."

"Mr.. uh.. Colonel Rhodes." Bucky mumbled.

"Yes, Sergeant Barnes?" 

"I'm so sorry about your legs a-and I know you don't want to hear this from me, but if Sam.. If Steve hadn't.." he took a deep breath for the millionth time today. "If I had been thinking straight and tried to convince Steve and his team to back down. You wouldn't be like this. But the Winter Soldiers were a priority, but it was a trap and.. God, sir, I'm so sorry."

Rhodey focused on man in front of him and he was strangely calm. He felt that he should have lashed out and told Bucky to fuck off, but he didn't want to. He looked at Bucky and he didn't want to yell at him. He also knew he needed to stop lashing out because of his injury. He was not going to wallow in self pity. Not anymore.

"Rhodey"

"I.. What?" Bucky looked a bit lost.

"There isn't really a need to be formal." He looked back down at his legs. "Not anymore, so. Rhodey" He smiled.

"Rhodey.. I.. Can you call me James?"

"James? Well, I guess I can. I don't use that name and my own mama doesn't even use that name. She calls me Rhodey like everyone close to me. Can I ask why?"

"It's just.. Bucky is someone Steve wants back. I just want to be who I am right now. And it's definitely not Bucky.

"Okay, James. I accept your apology. Thank you."

Bu-James breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Rhodey."

"I'm not going to lie, James. If you all stay here in with us long enough for us to be friends, I might lash out. I may mean it and I may not. Just.. Forgive me if I end up saying things that'll really offend you."

"S-Rhodey, there are days when I want to be left alone too... Days when I feel like I'll hurt everyone around me." He quieted down and rubbed his armless shoulder. "I don't know why I'm saying this. I should probably be telling this to Steve since he knows me, but I can't. I can't because he barely lets me breathe to begin with and if I told him then he'll never leave me alone."

Rhodey nodded and looked at the doorway. "Wow, I didn't know you felt that way, I mean. I thought you were sticking by him because he was familiar."

"No, I mean, yeah, I was looking for him because I remembered him a bit. But he's the one that's always sticking by me because he wants me to be someone I used to be. I'll never be who I used to be, Rhodey. 70 years with HYDRA? 70 years of them erasing my memories and messing with my head? I can not  _be_ who I used to be."

"Sergeant, there's no way I'll understand what you're going through. I don't think I ever will, and God help me, that I never do. But you can't let him control you like that. Yeah, you may be messed up in the head, but you can think for yourself. You know right from wrong. Vision told me how you tried to defend Happy when the others insulted him. You need someone to lean on, but you don't need a nanny who won't let you out of their sight."

"I don't know how to tell him that."

"Try breaking it to him. Maybe drop hints. I don't know him like you d-"

"That's not, Stevie."

"I'm sorry?"

"He's not... If I'm not the same, he's not either. That's not the Stevie I knew from back then."

"But you don't really remember him, what if y-"

"No, I can feel it. He's not the same skinny kid from Brooklyn and.. And I don't know if I can follow him to battle anymore. All those people he and I attacked just to escape. The tunnel that we..." James looked away. "The truth of the matter is, innocent people are dead because of us. Steve hasn't talked about it, but the Steve I knew would never let innocent people get hurt. This Steve doesn't mind it. I don't know what to feel about that."

Rhodey nodded silently and tapped his index finger on the armrest. 

"He did it all to help me escape. That means people are expendable to him. These guys must be expendable to him too." He pointed out the door. "In the Army we always said to each other 'No man left behind'. But.. I.. We left Iron Man behind. We didn't even.."

"What? What about Tony? James spit it out."

"Okay, if we're going to talk about what happened in Siberia, we need to be out there with the group. I don't want to have to repeat it. please, Rhodey."

Rhodey wheeled past James and nodded. "You tell me everything that happened, is that clear? I need to know everything that happened to Tony."

James nodded and walked out with Rhodey by his side. They were behind Steve as he was talking to T'Challa. Everyone was fixed on Steve as he seemed to be telling his story of Siberia. "-at's when he tried to kill Bucky. I couldn't let him. T'Challa you understand, he was gonna kill an innocent man. He was going to kill my friend."

"Now, you see, your Highness? I should never have told Stark where they were headed. I knew he couldn't be trusted, but I wanted to trust him so bad." Sam shook his head. "Some friend he was."

"You're telling me Tony Stark just attacked you without any provocation?" T'Challa raised an eyebrow.

"Well... Y..Yes." Steve looked away.

Clint growled. "he treated all of us like shit and it's his fault Scott and I were separated from our families. If Tony was here right now, he'd take our families and use them as black mail."

"That's who Stark is, and I'd hate to think what he'd do to my little girl."

"Oh my god." James looked at everyone in disbelief. "Do you even hear yourself? You're painting him to be a monster!"

"Bu-"

"God damn it, Steve, no! _No_! You tell them everything. He didn't attack us unprovoked! Zemo showed Tony a video of what rea-"

"Bucky sto-" Steve reached for him, but James slapped his hand away.

"Shut up Steve! If you won't say anything then I will!" he looked at Rhodey and felt like their friendly conversation was going to go down the drain and there would be no way to recover from that. " Zemo showed Tony a video of his parents' murder.."

"I thought it was an accident. I remember it being an accident. Tony was.. He was broken for a while and it was hard for him to get out of that darkness. He was drinking and partying harder than anybody in College. That was his way of coping. It. Was. An. Accident. Right?" Rhodey was tightening his grip on his armrests again. "The news said it as an accident."

"No, Rhodey. I murdered them."

Everyone was silent, but it surely was deafening to James. He rubbed his armless shoulder again. "I killed Tony's parents and Zemo forced him to watch what I did to them."

"You didn't do it, Bucky.." Steve tried to defend him, but his voice was soft.

"I may have not been in control, but my hands still did it, Steve. I killed them. Tony got pissed because you lied Steve. You _lied_. How could you keep that from him? To protect him? That's not how you protect people, Steve. From what I understood about Tony, he did a lot protecting you, protecting you _all_." He looked around the room. "He gave you a home. He upgraded your weapons. I may have not known him personally, but you all should have. I'm at fault too for following you Steve and not making my own choices, but I'm just so confused, Stevie. I'm so confused. I need your help! I need you to answer some questions."

"O-Okay, I can help you. I'm always here to help you." Steve inched closer to James again.

"Why, wasn't he allowed to be mad at me?"

"Bucky.."

"No, I'm curious, Steve. He just found out that his parents didn't die from an accident. He just found out I killed them. Why wasn't he allowed to be upset?"

"Because he had years to deal with his parents death, Buck."

"He did not just say what I think he just said.." Rhodey muttered.

"What? Fine, then what about, Wanda?"

"Why are you bringing me into this?" Wanda's hand sparked a bit red.

"You lost your parents from one of Tony's weapons, right?"

"Of course, My brother and I were ten years old." Wanda sniffed.

"But he wasn't the one that fired at you."

"It was his missile!" She shrieked.

Clint got in front of her. "You're out of line, pal."

"No, damn it, I need to understand this! What do you all have against, Tony Stark?! Because this isn't from just him signing the Accords. No, this aggression is from back before the Accords. None of you even tried to defend him."

"He put us in The RAFT!" Wanda cried out. She actually had unshed tears in her eyes. "He put that... that _thing_ on my neck!"

"From what I know, Tony had nothing to do with that. Ross put you guys in there. And Tony Stark didn't even touch you in The RAFT. He wasn't there to put that ring around your neck."

Scott stood beside Wanda and rubbed her shoulders in comfort. She leaned on his shoulder and trembled.

"Look at all of you defend her. I can bet none of you were there for Tony like that." James shook his head.

"He's a grown ass man, shes a child."

"Child? A Child? She's what? Over twenty years old? I'm gonna guess twenty-four, twenty-five? She's an adult. She should know right from wrong."

"She's the youngest here."

"Uh, pretty sure I'm the youngest, guys." Spider-Man piped up, and he was facing, James.

"We mean Avenger. You're not an Avenger." Steve snapped at the younger.

"That's another thing." James looked back at Steve. "Why is she an Avenger?"

"She helped us defeat Ultron." Clint stated.

"But she was a part of HYDRA. She was a willing HYDRA Asset. She helped you once and you made her a part of the Avengers. That.. That makes no sense."

"Bucky, she's just like you an-"

"No! She is not like me! I didn't have a choice! She did! Don't you ever compare me to her!" He pointed at Wanda who flinched and hid behind Scott.

"That's just harsh, man. You need to calm down." Scott gently rubbed her shoulders again. "She's never done anything to you."

T'Challa stepped forward to face Steve. "You lied to me, Captain. I asked you if Tony Stark attacked you unprovoked you replied that he did. What did you think was going to happen to a man who just watched his parents die?"

"Your Highness, his parents died years ago." Steve exclaimed like he was talking to a child. James was sure the King didn't appreciate that one bit. "He had time to move on!"

Silence again. T'Challa looked to be controlling himself from hitting the other man.

"My au-.. When I was younger, I was told that my parents died in a plane accident. I mean, I barely have any memories of them. but, if I found out it was a lie and that they were murdered instead of it being an accident. I would lose it. They were family. I honestly would go after the murderer of my parents even if decades had passed." Spider-Man looked away. "I think it would hurt me more if a friend of mine knew the killer and never told me. Especially if I can understand that his or her friend wasn't in his right mind or something."

"A child understands better than you, Captain. What does that say?" T'Challa sighed. "I think that's enough. We now know what happened in Siberia. The truth at least. And we all know what happened to Tony Stark or can guess what happened since he attacked us."

Rhodey almost, almost tried to get up from his wheel chair when T'Challa spoke. "Wait, Tony was the one that attacked us?"

"Since that is Steve's shield and Steve dropped it in Siberia, that is most likely the case. Yes, I believe it is Tony."

"But.. Why would he attack the Tower? I can somewhat see him attacking, Steve." Rhodey ignored Steve's scowl. "He wouldn't attack his own home."

"HYDRA has had years of perfecting they ways of brainwashing good people into doing the things they want. He didn't say anything to us as he fought. Probably a mindless puppet."

Spider-Man clenched his fists. "A pu-wait. He did say something. I think he did. Didn't he say 'You left me there'?"

Bucky turned to him. "Wait, you heard that?"

Spider-Man nodded. Right then Vision came up from the floor. "FRIDAY is back online, Colonel Rhodes, and I can vouch for Spider-Man. Mr. Stark must have used the speakers to talk to us when he turned FRIDAY offline, FRIDAY?"

"I am here. I must have taken a short nap, forgive me." FRIDAY declared. "I am unable to recover any security evidence of what happened here. But while I was asleep, I felt someone else take over the system."

"Someone hacked in and turned you off, we know that now." Natasha looked up.

"No, miss Romanoff." She said almost coldly when she had to converse with her. "I mean another program took over the Tower once I was down."

"What do you mean, baby girl? Another A.I.?" Rhodey asked.

"It seems most likely, sir."

Steve pondered. "If it was an A.I., Tony could have been the one who created it. But if he came to the Tower to attack us, then why would he need the A.I. to take over the system? Did he take anything FRIDAY?" 

"Not that I know of, Colonel Rhodes."

"Thanks, baby girl." Rhodey smiled.

Steve forced a grumble down when the A.I. ignored him.

"I know were barely have gotten anything done, but tomorrow is a new day." T'Challa spoke up. I'm sure all of us are hungry, right? Let us eat, sleep and when we wake up, we can figure out how to find out where Tony is."

James thought that was a good decision. If they stayed up worrying about it, they wouldn't be ready for another attack. The-

"Thank you, James." Rhodey said when everyone headed towards the kitchen to check out the take out menu. They had separated into groups of two. Steve's team and then T'Challa, Spider-Man, and Vision together in a different area apposite of the others in the kitchen. Only him and James stayed behind in the other room.

James looked down at Rhodey and swallowed hard. "You're not.. mad?"

"You defended Tony when not one of them did... I appreciate that. And I appreciate the truth too. I don't think I can trust Captain America ever again for that stunt he just pulled of shifting all the blame on Tony. You came up and told the truth.." Rhodey tapped the armrest again. ".. I really do think if Rogers told him the truth about his parents' death, you two would have become friends after Tony had the time to process what really happened to them. I know Tony. He would have given you a chance."

James reached his armless shoulder again, but stopped. He took a shaky breath. "I would have done everything for him to forgive me.."

"Then let's get him back. That'll be the first step." Rhodey patted his back and wheeled back into the kitchen with his new friend.

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

Antonio was quiet as he stared at his Armor laying on the metal table in his Work shop. Touching the claw marks made by the Black Panther and a few dents made by Captain America. His dull brown eyes flickered blue and the suit lit up momentarily and died. His hand slid up to his chest plate. 

"I could have melted the shield and used it on you, but that would have just ruined everything. That shield wasn't mine to begin with. I had to give it back to him. The bastard is naked without it. He isn't Captain America unless he has his shield in hand." He hummed and walked around the table. Cables came down from the ceiling and pulled his suit up above him. "EDWIN, what do you think?"

"You should have kept the shield, Father." Replied a young British voice from one of the speakers above him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to regret it, not really. Come on, EDWIN, be more fun!"

"Well, I was born yesterday." 

Tonio laughed and observed the cables pulling the Armor apart into neat pieces. "Funny, you're a fast learner."

The clicking of heels echoed within his Work shop and that made him smile wider. "Hey, Pep."

"Excuse me?" Madame asked with a confused look on her face.

Tonio turned around, still keeping his smile. "What?"

"You called me, Pep. Why?"

"No, I didn't. I said 'Lia'." Tonio crossed his arms. "I know what I said."

"... Okay, where is the shield?"

"Uhh, back where it belongs."

Ophelia huffed. "Why, Tonio?" 

"Because it belongs there. Lia, I'll be fine."

"If you didn't want to use it I could have given to someone else!"

"Really, who? Lia, I know what I'm doing."

"Wasted! That shield was the only Vibranium HYDRA had access too. No one is going to be happy when they find out the shield is gone."

"Ophe-"

"No, Tonio! I trusted you!" She glared at him.

"We've known each other for years, so you knew stars and striped weren't my thing. And it wouldn't have been fair if I used my arch nemesis' weapon against him. I'm better than that."

"He'll use it against you. Just like what he did to your chest in Siberia, he'll do it again because you gave him that power, To-"

She was cut off when lips pressed against her forehead. "You worry too much, _Tesoro_. Relax, I know what I'm doing. Trust in me." He held her hands and pulled them up to his chest where the broken reactor was. "EDWIN and I got this. Right, Eddie?"

"Of course, Father. Mother, I will always take care of him." The A.I. responded.

Ophelia didn't know how to react to this. This was not how she programmed Antonio Carbonell to be. They flirted out of fun, but she made sure he didn't have the ability to 'fall' in love. What was this?

Tonio let her go and went back to look at the Armor. "Everything will be okay."

She stared at his back and watched him work while she touched her forehead.

_Tesoro, huh?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think so far? Too much Wanda hate?
> 
> I'm gonna be honest right now, I am not a fan of Wanda. She's not a kid, she's an adult. And she ARGHHH
> 
> I just don't like her, sorry.
> 
> I love you all and I hope your dreams come true! I love you all!


	5. Worth ten of you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I love you all so much that I posted another chapter. Right at the end of the week! Three chapters in a week! You guys are amazing! Thank you for inspiring me to continue this story and helping me upload this chapter on the last day of the week.
> 
> I love all of your comments and and I love all of your rants!
> 
> You all are beautiful/Handsome people!
> 
> In the beginning, James is speaking Russian when I highlighted his words in italics. I didn't want to put google translate Russian because I didn't want the words to be wrong
> 
>  
> 
> Any mistakes are mine, thank you!
> 
> SUICIDL THOUGHTS IN THIS CHAPTER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

**_"Hey, Punk."_ **

**_"Bucky! What are you doing home, weren't you supposed to be at work?"_ **

**_"I got my letter."_ **

**_"...You got yours?"_ **

**_"Yeah."_ **

**_"Then mine must have come too, right? Where is it?"_ **

**_"Stevie..."_ **

**_"Where'd you put it, Buck?"_ **

**_"Steve..."_ **

**_"Where?..."_ **

 

James woke with a start making him thrash around the bed he was in. He couldn't open his eyes, but felt something heavy on top of him. He couldn't move, someone was holding him down. Someone as big as him. ~~~~

_They have me, oh god, the have me. I can't breathe._

_I can't breathe!_

_"-uck!"_

_Please, please let go of me_

_Please_

_Don't take me back_

**_"Wipe him."_ **

_I can't go back there_

**_"Longing."_ **

_No_

_" **Rusted."**_

_Stop, please, god, no_

_"Bucky!"_

_Please just kill me instead._

"Bucky!"

James' body stilled as he screamed a blood curdling scream. His eyes wide open now as he stared into bright blue ones mere inches away from him. Hands were all over him. So many hands meant more than one person was holding him down. God, please no.. _No_!

he head-butted the one above him, turned to his left and punched whoever was grabbing him from that side. He heard their grunts and a few hands were off of him, but he wasn't going to stop until he was free. He wasn't going back there, he wasn't! James grabbed the gun from under his pillow and aimed it at anyone who was close enough.

He saw red sparks from the corner of his eyes, but it was too late. He was up in the air and the gun was no longer in his hand. Arms and legs bound by red aura. He struggled, but it did him no good.

"God! Wanda put him down!"

"He punched Scott in the face! I have to restrain him!"

"No, Wanda, he's just confused!"

"He had a gun, he was going to kill us!"

_"Put me down! Put me down!"_

"Is he speaking Russian?"

"Put him down, now!"

"He's not sane, Captain!"

_"I won't let you take me!"_

"Wanda!"

James dropped onto the ground, but before he could get up, hand pinned his shoulders down." Bucky, look at me!" He heard the one above him shout. James slowly stopped struggling, but he didn't calm down. Not yet. 

"S-Steve?" He looked into those blue eyes. "W-Where am I?"

"You're in Stark's Tower, remember? We got here from Wakanda on a Quinjet." Steve slid his hands up to cup the frightened man's face. He was smiling down at him.

"Stark.. Y-yeah I remember. I.." He tried to slow down his breathing and take in his surrounding. Everyone was around the two of them, staring mostly at him and holding their arms up as if ready to hold him down again. The Witch's hand was sparking red again just like yesterday when he had pissed her off. He glared at her, daring her to try. 

She noticed and glared right back, daring him as well.

Yeah, she really wasn't his favorite for sure

Steve stroked his cheek and James really wanted to bite his finger off. If the two were really brothers, why couldn't Steve tell that he really didn't want to be touched right now? He shoved him away, but Steve still held him close. "It's okay, Buck, you're safe."

No, he wasn't.

He thought everything was over and they had him.

He could have tried to kill them.

"Who did I punch?" He remembered hitting someone on his left when he got up. He looked around again and saw Scott was holding his nose. Blood was dripping from it and for some reason he really didn't feel any remorse knowing who he hit.

Scott held his hand up. "Me, thanks man." He muffled.

James shook his head and shoved Steve off one more time. Steve finally got the hint and let go. He still looked at him warily. 

_Good_

"Who was holding me down before I woke up? I was dreaming and someone heavy was on me. That's what made me.."

"Oh.. Uh. That was me, Bucky." Steve said sheepishly.

"What?"

"I.. I slept in your bed last night."

"You have a bed just for you, why would you need to be on my bed?"

"I just thought.. Maybe you would need company. So that you would know that you're not alone."

James gave Steve a disbelieving look. "Do you understand what 'I want to be alone' means?"

"Well, I thought it was okay! You were sleeping, Buck!"

"That's one of the worst times, Steve!"

"I thought maybe it would help you remember something from our childhood..."

"God damn it, Steve I was hyperventilating! I thought you were HYDRA! You sent me into a panic attack!"

Sam tried to get in between the two. "All right, lets calm down."

"None of you tried to stop him?!"

Scott was stuffing tissues up his nose. "We didn't think anything was wrong with it. You two were practically brothers before, so what's the big deal?"

"You guys are all stupid! Sam, I thought you would understand as a counselor that what Steve did was a bad idea. You of all people should have stopped him."

Sam frowned. " Bucky, some people need familiarity. You suffered a lot for 70 years. You need someone like Steve."

James stood up and walked into the bathroom, ignoring Steve calling out for him. He locked the bathroom door. None of them understood. Not one. He could have killed them all if he still had his metal arm. That was probably the only good thing that came out of Siberia. Tony destroying his arm. He was still deadly, but a little less now.

He still felt like a monster.

He looked up and saw himself in the mirror. He could have passed as a homeless person if he was on the streets. He was still wearing that red shirt, his hair was almost down to his shoulders, and his beard was a little longer than before. His eyes used to look dead, or that's what he believed. He doesn't remember looking into the mirror while he was The Winter Soldier. It was unnecessary for him to check himself out, to groom himself. He was just a weapon.

_Their weapon._

_Not anymore._

James let out a quiet sob. He couldn't do this. This wasn't the first time he had nightmares after his escape from HYDRA and it wouldn't be the last, but he hadn't had people around him when the nightmares came. He was alone and no one was in danger of him.

He can't do this.

He slammed his fist into the mirror and swore when it cracked. he didn't mean to break it and he certainly didn't mean to cut his knuckles either. He pulled his hand back to examine it. It wasn't bad. It would heal within half an hour. He looked back at his broken self. So many reflections of him staring back. Just pieces of himself.

He looked down at the sink and saw the necessities for each of them. Different toothbrushes, different hand soaps, different hair brushes, some hair times, make ups, and razors. They really did think of them when they gave them the room. Wanda called it a prison. This was no prison.

Maybe she enjoyed her stay in The RAFT.

The was a banging on the door. "Dude, some of us hafta take a leak!" Clint cried out from behind the door.

James grit his teeth and and was about to make a snarky retort, but stopped as he zeroes in on a glass fragment what was in the sink. It wasn't a big piece, but it was big enough that it didn't slip into the drain. He reached in and picked it up, holding it close to his face as he stared. There was a smear of blood on it, obviously his. 

"We're gonna piss our pants. Please open up!"

He barely heard them as certain thoughts were running through his head. He never tried it before. He never really thought about it before. But could he do it? 

He clenched the fragment in his hand tightly, cutting up his hand even more. No more nightmares of being their puppet, no more nightmares of hurting innocent people, no more nightmares of their screaming, and no more nightmares of being brought back, screaming for anyone to save him.

It would end.

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

"I have to pee, I have to pee, I have to pee!" Clint whined while he held his crotch and did a little hop. "Man, why'd you have to piss him off, Cap? He's hogging all the bathroom!"

"I didn't mean to.. I don't know why he's pushing me away." Steve looked so defeated.

"HYDRA messed him up, Steve. You didn't know how he was going to react. Sometimes they need comfort, sometimes they don't." Sam reassured him.

"He wasn't like this until he talked with Rhodey yesterday." Wanda crossed her arms.

"What?" Steve looked at her."

"I'm saying, Vision used to be kind too until he had been with Rhodey without us. Yesterday Bucky went into the kitchen and talked with Rhodey. When they came out he was yelling at all of us."

Natasha looked towards the kitchen. "She does have a point. What were they talking about that made Bucky lash out?"

"Yes! He was a good person just like Vision was! I bet you it was Rhodey's fault."

Steve opened his mouth, but stopped when he saw the bathroom door open. Clint cheered and rushed passed James when he walked out and shut the door. Everyone else just gaped at him.

Steve straightened himself. "Bucky, what did you do to yourself?"

James looked away as he rubbed his chin. "There are razors in the bathroom. I just shaved my face and tied my hair up into a small pony tail with one of the hair ties in there too. I think I look okay."

"How did you tie your hair with one hand?" Sam asked.

"It wasn't easy. That's what took so long." He pointed at his tied up hair. "I tried though." He turned around and showed them his pony tail. Only a bit of his hair was tied while the rest were just hanging. Scott snorted.

Natasha walked up to him. "Let me help you." She pulled the tie gently off to not hurt him and began to fix his hair. He thanked her.

Steve smiled a little. "You look good.. I think you should cut your hair too, you know. So you'd look like the the old Bucky Barnes!"

That brought down James' mood real quick. His lips twisted into a scowl. "God, you're an idiot, Steve." he brushed passed him once he felt Natasha finish.

"Wait, what did I do, Bucky? Bucky!" Steve grabbed his wrist before he could get any farther. "Bucky, talk to me. I'm your friend."

"No I'm not! Why don't you understand that! I'm not your old friend anymore! Why can't you get that through your thick head!" James pulled away harshly. "I can't believe you, Steve. I just.." He sighed. " I'm going out."

Everyone got closer to them and protested. "You can't leave, what if they find you? They're out there looking for us! We haven't gotten rid of the Accords, yet!" Steve exclaimed as he painfully ignored James' statement of their friendship.

"I'm changing clothes and I look different. I'm pretty sure none of them know my metal arm is gone too. That'll help me. I need some fresh air."

"You can't take any chances, you really shouldn't." Scott stated. 

"What is with you ganging up on me, damn." James walked towards the closet and it opened for him.

"What are you thinking of wearing today, Mr. Barnes?" FRIDAY suddenly spoke. "Vision had asked Mrs. Hogan to have a few clothes for everyone to change into. These are yours." A light turned on above a rack of clothes.

James smiled as he shifted through the clothes. He was thankful for that woman. She had no obligation to clothe them, feed them, or even house them. Yet, she was kind enough to do so. He picked out A navy blue hoodie and a pair of jeans close to the same color just a shade darker.

He walked out of the room and the others followed him. It was annoying, but he didn't voice his complaints. "FRIDAY, is anyone using the elevator?"

"Not currently, Mr. Barnes."

"Good, I'll change in there. Where would I put my old clothes though?"

"I'll direct you once you are out."

"Oh.. Thanks." The elevator doors opened and he walked in. Before anyone to reach him, the doors immediately closed.

"FRIDAY, bring him back! He can't be out there alone!" Steve cried out.

"Mrs. Hogan is waiting for him down stairs. She'll have him set up." FRIDAY replied and she sounded somewhat annoyed.

Wanda hissed. "Then let us out too! If he gets to leave than so can we!"

"Of course. The doors are open for you to leave any time. Just remember when you are caught to not trace anything back to Boss. I was in position to believe you were going to help find him. His Highness, T'Challa, is awake and coming down to meet you. You all can tell him yourself that you do not want to save Boss."

Steve stiffened and looked down. Saying it like that wouldn't look good for them. T'Challa wasn't too happy with them still and FRIDAY was going to twist everything up. 

They needed to get rid of the Accords fast. That was top priority. They could find Tony along the way.

The bathroom door opened and Clint came out. "Boy, I needed that... Hey, where is everyone?" He peeked out of their bed room. 

"What did I miss?

 

**[ . . . ]**

 

James left the elevator doors to the Lobby Floor, holding his old clothes in his hand. "FRIDAY? Where should I put these?"

"Mr. Barnes, FRIDAY said you were leaving." Pepper came up to him. She was wearing a black suit skirt and jacket to match. James swore he was going to memorize the sound of her steps in no time and would be able to distinguish which one was hers whenever and wherever. 

"I.. uh, yes ma'am. I wanted to get some fresh air and hoping to get away from Steve's team." James straightened up for her out of respect.

Pepper nodded and reached into her pocket and pulled out a Stark phone. "Well, you look different than you did before. You clean up nicely, Mr. Barnes. Take this with you."

"Please call me, James, ma'am. What is it?" He took the phone when she handed it to him.

"A phone for you. FRIDAY is programmed into it. She'll help you find your way throughout the city... James."

"Wow, thank you very much. You really didn't have to do this."

Pepper's lips twisted down. Perhaps disappointment? He just knew she wasn't happy right now. "You're absolutely right, James. I don't have to do this, but you know what? If Tony was here right now, he would have done everything for you guys. Because that's who he is. He wouldn't send any of you out on the streets. He wouldn't feed you to the dogs, like you all did to him." 

James looked down and thought about yesterday. He could have stopped Steve from leaving Tony there, but he hadn't thought about Tony. He had just been trying to get out of there with Steve. This was his fault too. "I know.. I know and I'm sorry. I know it's not enough and I don't think anything I can do will ever be enough to be forgiven, but I promise I'll find him. I have so much to make up for. I'll do whatever I have to do."

Pepper crossed her arms and shook her head. "How can you make up for him letting get taken by HYDRA? Yes, Rhodey told me what happened. They're going to, mostly likely already, twist his brain like yours. Is that okay, James? All Tony wanted was for them to understand that there are consequences for your actions. This is one of them. Steve left him there and now he's one of HYDRA's assets. Everything they did to you, they're doing to him. Think about that, James."

"I know.. And.. And I do, I have. Ever since I found out he was the one in the armor.. I thought about him in that Chair. _The_ Chair. The Chair that took my life away. I didn't want him to go through that. He shouldn't.. It's my fault. I could have stopped Steve. Now he's going to be used for their own perverse plan of peace. Brainwashed over and over again if he doesn't comply. Trigger Words.. I.. I did it too. I left him there too.."

_You left me there._

"I left him there too.." James gripped the edge of his hoodie to keep from reaching his shoulder. He was trying to break that habit away.

Pepper eyed him, studied him. James had a somewhat ability to read people. This woman was not one of those people he was able to read.

"Rhodey believed you to be very remorseful. I told him I couldn't believe it after what you all did to Tony. How could you be sorry when you all were hurting him in the first place. Maybe I want to believe in this false hope that somebody, anybody, on Rogers' team could understand what they did was wrong. Hm, isn't it weird?"

James swallowed hard as he tried to meet her eyes. "What is weird, ma'am?"

"Out of everyone on Rogers' team, the brainwashed Assassin has more compassion and understanding than the rest of the team. I find that very odd, James."

"I.."

"And yet, I'm inclined to believe you."

"Really?.." James wanted to be hopeful. He didn't want to associated with the others any longer.

"Yes. It's my job to read people, James. I have to deal with S.I. Board Members all the time. I know who's greedy and I know who's not. I look at you and I see.. Hurt. You're hurt, you're tired, and you're very sorry. I believe you are." She finally gave him a small smile. "Maybe I'm wrong, but if Rhodey believes in you then I will too." She stepped aside. "Enjoy your walk, James."

"Thank you, ma'am!" James pulled her into the tightest hug she had ever received in her life. She paused for a moment and gently reached up to pat his back. He let go. "S-Sorry, ma'am.."

"Pepper is fine." 

"Sorry?"

"Well, my real name is Virginia, but Tony named me Pepper when I became his Personal Assistant years ago. Rhodey allows you to call him by the nickname Tony gave him, so I'll allow you to use the nickname Tony gave me. Mine is Pepper."

"T-Thank you, Pepper."

"You're welcome, James."

"I see you're making friends with the enemy, Pep." A new familiar voiced joined in. James turned.

Sharon Carter walked up to them and James recognized her. "You're the woman that brought Steve and Sam their gear."

The blonde's smile tightened, but nodded. "I am. My name is Sharon Carter."

"Hello, Agent Carter."

"Please, call me Sharon. I'm no longer an Agent after all." She clenched her fists.

"I.. Oh, I'm sorry. It was for helping us wasn't it."

"Yes, and among other things, but I accept my punishment. I trusted a man I barely knew over my family and now I've lost both my cousin and my job. I'm hoping to help make things right by searching for my cousin along with the others."

James frowned as thought about her words. _Lost both her job and cousin_. "When you say cousin, you mean Tony? Tony is your cousin?"

Sharon nodded. "We were close when I was younger, but I was the one who pulled away from him when I grew older. I saw him nothing more than an alcoholic smart ass, but when I talked with aunt Peggy, she always had nice things to say about him. I always thought it was uncle Danny who replaced her flowers everyday. It was Tony." Her eyes teared up, but she refused to let the tears fall. "He also visited once a week when she was.." She cleared her throat. " I hated him because I thought he never cared. I hated him because I thought that he felt too important to be with any of us. I hated him because I thought he was out partying every single night when our aunt needed us. I hated him.. Because I was a selfish little girl who wanted nothing more than my older cousin by my side instead of covers of magazines and among paparazzis. I chose a hero from a past time. I didn't listen to Tony when he told me it was a bad idea. I hated him."

"He knew you were going to help us.." James replied with a tightness in his chest. "But he never reported it."

"No, he didn't. I also never told him anything, but an hour before I met Steve with their gear, I got a text message from Tony. All it said was 'Don't do it, Ronnie, please.' And I didn't listen, because he didn't come to aunt Peggy's funeral and that hurt. If he truly cared, why didn't he come?.. I didn't realize he was dealing with the Accords and he couldn't get away. I ended up getting another message later. I don't know who it was from. No number, no way to call back. Just a video sent to my messages. It was the grave aunt Peggy was buried in. He walked up to her and laid a bouquet of flowers on top and.." 

James hesitated when he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, I understand now. I'm sorry, Sharon.."

She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat once more. She pulled out her phone and tapped away for a few seconds and held it out to him. "This is the video.."

James tapped the play button and watched.

 

_The angle of the camera seemed to be facing down from above at Tony. Far enough where Tony wouldn't notice it, but close enough to hear Tony's voice if he talked. There was nothing obscuring the camera's vision at all. A clean shot of Tony and everything he would do._

_Tony was walking up to the grave, holding up a bouquet of white lillies. He was in his Iron Man armor and had bruises on his face, yet he had the most gentlest smile James had ever seen him have. He knelt down and placed the flowers on the grave. He looked so broken as he looked at the tombstone._

_"Hey, aunt Peg.. I.. How are you? Is there a heaven? Well, if there is, I'm sure you're there livin' it up. Hanging around with uncle Jim, uncle Junior, uncle James M... Mom too. God, aunt Peg, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to your funeral. I was supposed to be one of your Pallbearers, but I.. There's really no excuse. I could say that The Accords messed things up, but can you blame them? All they want is for us to take responsibility for the wrongs we do, for when we mess up." Tony let out a sob._

_Tony stopped to calm a bit before speaking up again."Hey, remember years ago, about a week before dad sent me to that boarding school, I told you I was afraid of the other children. I was afraid they were going to push me around, afraid they were going to beat me down, because of what I was. I would have no one there to guide me, to save me. Y-You told me 'Ducky, I was a woman in a time no one wanted a woman as a leader. I've had several men in my life try and push me around, but you know what I did? I punched them in the face. Now, I'm sure you bloody hell are not allowed to do that there, but if you do, I'll give you candy for it when you come back. But back to what I was talking about, Ducky. If they push you around and talk down to you, you calmly tell them to stop. If they don't, you stand firm, like a tree. You face those bullies head on. Even if they all look down at you and call you names, call you worthless, you look them straight in the eye and you tell them 'I am worth more than ten of you.' You tell them that, Ducky' and then you gave me a hug and took me to Jarvis and Ana to sneak me some sweets before dinner._

_Boy, I did what you told me. I got beat up even more, but.. But they were just trying to bring me down because of my intelligence. They never broke my spirits because I had you. I had you, Jarvis, Ana, mom, uncle Danny and the rest of the Howling Commandos. I had you all by my side._

_But.. Then I started losing you all. One by one. First it was Ana. She had died of cancer. I was still so young, but I tried so hard to research everything about the disease. In the end I couldn't save her. Next was Jarvis. Ana and Jarvis were like parents to me. Well, at least Jarvis got to be together with his beloved. He wasn't suffering anymore. Mom and dad died in that horrible car crash. If I had known that day would have been the last day I would ever speak to them. I wouldn't have been an ass. I would have told them both I loved them and that I was sorry for being who I was. A disappointment." He lowered his head, tears dripping down on to the dirt. "Because that's what I was. That is what I am._

_I had you, I had you and the Howling Commandos. I then met Sharon during a Christmas gathering with the Howling Commandos. She stayed by your side the whole time until I showed her Dum-E, then she followed Dum-E around the whole time. She was so adorable. I remember during story time we both sat down on the couch to listen to their amazing stories of Captain America and Bucky Barnes. You'd also tell your story and Sharon loved them just as much as I did. At the end she was the one who came up to me and asked for me to tuck her in. I felt so much warmth in me, aunt Peg. I hadn't felt that warmth in forever since Ana and Jarvis died. And here was my baby cousin, asking me to tuck her in._

_I spoiled her whenever I could and you always scolded me for that. But she was more of a little sister to me, how could I not?" Tony laughed softly._

_"She was the sister I never had."_

_Tony looked up into the sky and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He didn't bother wiping them. "Aunt Peg. When I met Captain America for the first time, I was so excited deep inside. I was meeting my childhood hero. A hero whose posters I had on my wall, whose action figures I had on my shelves, and whose stories I've heard ever since I was born._

_I guess I was a bit star struck that I wanted to prove my worth to him. Prove my intelligence. I may have gotten snarky and rolled my eyes a bit, but I didn't want to look stupid and scream how much of a fan I was. I was over 40 years old. That wouldn't look cool to a National hero._

_Then I was just having fun with a new friend I made. Bruce Banner, you would have loved him, aunt Peg.. I was having fun and he came in upset. I knew what I was doing, what was wrong with having a little fun? He asked me what I was without the armor and I replied with a shitty attitude 'Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist'. It was a joke, but it hurt a little inside to hear him ask that. Well, if that hurt a little, what came out of his mouth next was a sucker punch to the gut." He let out a hollow laugh. "he told me that he knew men who didn't have what I had and they were worth ten of me. They were... Are worth ten of me._

_The Rogue Avengers.. Are worth more than ten of me._

_They all left to join the great Captain America.."_

_Tony sniffed. "Sharon is on his side too. That's okay. She really loves him, aunt Peg. I know I promised you, as your Godson, I would take care of her. But she didn't want it. I backed off. But I won't hold it against her. I swear if her gun is aiming at me.. I'll let her shoot._

_I won't ever hurt her, aunt Peg. I won't hurt my little sister."_

_Tony finally stood up and wiped his face. "I'm going off to see your old friends now. I want to help them and prove Bucky's innocence. I.. I couldn't stand firm like a tree I guess. I couldn't tell Steve that I was worth more than ten of him. How could I? He's Steve Rogers. The most lovable American hero with his best friend Bucky Barnes._

_They both are worth ten billions of me."_

_Tony walked a few steps away and flew off._

_The video ended._

 

James almost dropped the phone when he heard a soft cry. He wasn't sure if it was him or the other two who made the sound. All three of them were crying. Thankfully, no one was in the lobby right now. He looked at Sharon and she took her phone back.

"I too have a lot to make up for, Sergeant. I won't rest until he's home and I'll apologize for hurting him. I think I should be punished far more than just losing my job." She walked passed him, heading towards the elevator doors. Pepper quickly wiped her tears. 

"I should get going too, James. Wherever you're going to go to rest your head, please be careful. Have a good day." She followed Sharon.

James walked out of the Tower. He didn't know where he was going to go. He didn't know where his legs were taking him. He was on autopilot right now. He wasn't sure if he was bumping into people or not. That wasn't important right now. After watching that video, he felt like a monster again. Something disgusting twisted inside him. 

God, he felt like throwing up.

What had he done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Last chapter for the week! Thank you all so much for sticking with this story! 
> 
> I love you all!
> 
> Have a wonderful day!
> 
> <3


	6. The boy with the dozen donuts. Few were obviously eaten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter y'all!
> 
> Finally what everyone has been waiting for... Hopefully..
> 
> Tony and Bucky meet! Yay!
> 
> Not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I wrote it. Hopefully you'll like it.
> 
> Any mistakes are mine, thank you!

James passed by the normal people on the streets while he walked towards a destination hadn't set yet. Ignoring their stares at his missing arm, he concentrated on where he was. He had been walking for a while now, and felt a little lost. After seeing that video of Tony, made him too upset to keep his head straight. Now he was lost and he had no sense of familiarity around him. He could probably get mugged. 

He wasn't armed with any weapons, but he still could handle himself. So, he decided to keep walking instead of stopping to ask for directions back to Stark Tower. It was relaxing. Just walking without anyone clinging onto him, or babying him wherever he was.

It was nice to not have Steve around for once. Sure, he wasn't with Steve for nearly 70 years, but he wasn't himself back then. He was the Winter Soldier. Ever since he regained some of his memories and his personality, Steve was always beside him. Barely giving him room to breathe.

"This is nice.." James whispered softly to himself when he came to a stop. He was in a small playground area, watching the children laugh and play. Some kids were swinging on swings, others on monkey bars. Some were going down tunnel slides, others were going down on metal poles. 

They seemed to be having a lot of fun.

James sat down on an empty bench and watched the children continue to play. Parents were either sitting down and watching the kids, or playing with the children on the contraptions. What a beautiful sight.

 _To counter the sad video Sharon Carter showed_ you.

He shook his head. He knew it was his fault a long time ago, but it wrecked him to know that Tony suffered so much more than what he saw in Siberia. And he knew that wasn't it. Tony's eyes said so. He could see in his eyes when he was in that grave that he was suffering more than he was showing. 

James knew how to do that too.

"You know, staring at those kids over there doesn't help you with your image, Mr. Creep. Being armless is already scary, dude."

James looked to his left to find a boy holding a box of donuts. One sugar glaze was in his mouth. He almost jumped in surprise when he first caught sight of him. He looked so much like Tony, but younger. Dark brown hair and amber colored eyes. He swore he even saw this boy before. Years, years before. But that was impossible, because if it had been years, then this child wouldn't be a child.

"Where are your parents, kid? Or do you have a younger sibling here, playing?" James questioned.

"Nah, I'm just passing through, what happened to your arm?" The boy pointed at his left shoulder. James shrugged, pretending it didn't bother him. 

"I lost it, during the war." He simply replied.

"Huh, bummer. You don't like prosthetics?"

"I used to have one, until it broke. Pissed off a guy."

"And he went for your arm? That's a low blow, dude."

"In fairness, I did punch him with it."

The kid laughed. "Maybe you did deserve it. You don't want another one?"

"Not really, no."

"Why not?"

"Safer for everyone that way." James shrugged again.

"Dude, again. Creepy as hell."

"That should be a warning for you to stay away from me." 

The boy grinned and before James could do anything, the younger one stuffed a jelly filled donut in his mouth. James widened his eyes and froze. He could taste the powdery sugar on his tongue. He slowly bit down and held the donut between his thumb and his index finger. 

The younger one laughed and finished up the donut in his mouth. " Knew it would work, food always shuts me up, so I thought I'd try it on you. The experiment was a success!" He cheered.

James glared a bit, but he did enjoy the taste of the donut. "Laugh all you want, but you're the one who lost a donut while I gained one."

The other laughed as he plopped down beside James, opening the box of donuts to reveal the eight left inside. "That's totally fine, Mr. Soldier."

James took another bite as he looked back at the playground again. Couple of the kids were leaving with their parents. Holding hands side by side. It almost hurt inside. What would it have been like if he hadn't been caught by HYDRA? Would he have gotten married? Have kids of his own? Tell them war stories of the brave men who fought for their country. 

How his best friends, a scrawny kid from Brooklyn, died the day he became a hero.

No, he wouldn't tarnish Steve's name like that. No matter how pissed off he was. He would have spoke of how amazing Captain America was. How he lead them to many victories. How he sacrificed his life to save a city full of people.

He would give anything to have a normal life. To grow old and die.

"What are you thinking about, Mr. Soldier?" The kid asked.

James internally groaned. All he wanted was some peace, granted this was a public place, but everyone else was ignoring him, why couldn't this kid ignore him too? "Nothing, kid."

"Not a kid and I can clearly see you lying, you know. I can read people."

"God, can everyone fucking read me? Am I that much of an open book?" James said as he refused to look at him. Maybe he should just ignore the boy and he'll take the hint.

"Nah, I'm just good at what I do. Want another one?" He offered when he reopened the donut box again.

"I'm fine."

"You sure, I got sugar glaze, chocolate eclairs, more strawberry filled ones, even custard filled, a-"

"I said I'm fine!" He snapped.

There was silence between them after that. James continued to watch the kids having the time of their life, but he wasn't happy about it anymore. A certain guilt inside of him stirred and began to make him feel like an asshole. He shouldn't have yelled at the kid. He turned his focus back onto him to apologize, but stopped.

The kid was staring at his box with a content look on his face. Sad, but content, like he was okay with James treating him like shit.

"I.. Kid, I didn't mean to. I don't have an excuse for snapping at you like that. I'm sorry." James tried to apologize, but he didn't know how to sound less of a jerk. Who was he to yell at him? He was even kind enough to give him something to eat.

"Not a kid." The boy turned to smile at him. "I'm 21 years old, you know."

"Bullshit." No way this kid was over 18.

"No, really. I am. See?" He pulled out a card and handed it to James. He read it aloud.

"Antonio Carbonell. Male. Brown eyes. Brown Hair. Age.. Well, I'll be damn. You are 21 years old. You look like a baby."

"You know, your apology becomes void when you begin to be a dick right after apologizing." Antonio crossed his arms.

James chuckled a bit, but stared at the name. "Carbonell.. That name is really familiar to me. Antonio, you Italian?"

"Yup, what gave it away, _signore_?"

"You insulting me in another language, punk?"

"I do hope you're joking."

"Si?"

Antonio laughed and shoved James a bit. "Ass."

"Punk."

"Ew, punk is something you call a kid."

"You are a kid."

"I showed you proof that I'm not!"

"A baby, maybe I am a creep." James snorted.

He pouted. "Rude!"

"James."

"huh?"

"Since I know your name, you can know mine. I'm James. James Barnes." James handed the card back.

"Oh my god, that is so a 007 reference!"

"What the hell is 007?"

"It's a movie, where have you been? Frozen in a time capsule?"

James flinched. "Something like that."

"Donut?" The  _man_ opened up his box, offering once again.

"Sure, thank you." He took an eclair and bit into it.

"Welcome, Jimbo." 

James groaned and shook his head. "That is the dumbest nickname you could ever give me, Antolian."

"The fuck is Antolian?.. That better not be Antonio and Italian put together."

"...No?"

"You suck at Nicknames."

"Like Jimbo is any better."

Antonio grinned and nudged James. "Give me time to get to know you better and I'll give you the best nickname ever."

James thought about it. He just expected this to be a one time thing. A chance meeting without the thought of a reunion. He really did enjoy the kid.. guy's company... Antonio might only like him because he didn't know who James Barnes was or didn't think that he was the James Barnes that was the Winter Soldier. The first would be a bit surprising since almost everyone knew who James 'Bucky' Barnes was. He guessed this was a blessing the-

"Hello? Earth to Jim! You're hurting my feelings if all you're gonna do is ignore me after all this time we've spent together." Antonio whined as he leaned his head onto James' left shoulder.

"You really are a kid." James grunted, but he didn't try to shove the younger off. "You are good company. Probably best company I've had in years. Annoying, but good annoying. The kind of annoying I don't mind having by my side."

"Aww, sweet talking me there, Jimbo? Sorry, babe, I'm already taken. And she'd kill me with poison if she caught me flirting with another." Antonio batted his eyelashes at him.

"I'm not into kids." James replied deadpanned.

"Rude, you already know I'm over 18."

"Baby face."

"Man, if you are into me, that would be awkward for you to think about. You do realize that, right?"

"I'm not gay and if I was, I wouldn't be into you in a million years."

"That's what they all say, sweety... Ew, not using that again. There are a lot of names better than sweety."

"Agreed. I called all my dames, sugar, or doll... I think."

"You don't know? And really, sugar? Doll? What are you, 90 years old?"

"Know, what? I think you're jealous."

Antonio sputtered, no longer laying on James' shoulder. " _Scusami_? Jealous? Why would I have anything to be jealous about?"

James smirked, deciding to play along to Antonio's previous flirting. "I think you want someone to call you, sugar." James leaned closer, lips inches away from his ear. "Don't you, doll?" He whispered seductively. He had no idea where it came from. He didn't think he was going to take it this far when he thought of teasing Antonio back.

He noticed how silent the other was. Oh god, did he ruin this? He was thinking about trying to meet this guy again. He really was a good guy to hang out with. He just wanted to play alo-

A soft kiss to the corner of his lips almost,  _almost_ , short circuited his brain. He blinked a coupled times and pulled back.

"You're cute, Jimbo. I know one person who plays along with my antics, but she hasn't been fun lately after what I did yesterday. But you're fun. Cute and fun. Best combo there is." James swore he heard Antonio pur.

"I.. Uh.. Yeah, doll." James touched his bottom lip. "Did.. Did you kiss me?"

"Oh, after that performance you gave me, James, don't stop now. Maybe I do like being called sugar, but only if you call me that."

James laughed, throwing his head back. "You're something else, Antolian."

Antonio groaned. "Please don't call me that. Leave the nicknames to me."

"When you stop calling me, Jim or Jimbo, that's when I'll stop calling you Antolian."

"I came out to have a good time, and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."

"I don't get that reference."

"Not a meme person?"

"The fuck is that? That ain't a word, punk."

"Oh man, I have so many things to show you. Best thing about having my brain connected to the internet."

"Your brain is connected to the internet?" James raised a brow.

"Well, my tech to me is my brain. So I'd like to think that I'm connected to the internet." Antonio shrugged nonchalantly, but James felt that he meant something else. Because he knew how important privacy was, he didn't press any further. Now if only the people back in the tower respected privacy. Not naming anyone. 

_Steve_

"I want to apologize, again." James started. "I was an ass before and it was because I wanted to be alone, but I really enjoyed your company."

Antonio grabbed a sugar glaze and shoved it into James' mouth. "Please don't turn this into a sap thing. I don't do that."

He choked a bit, but pulled it out, glaring at the other again. "Ass, I was being nice to you. Now who's the jerk in this relationship."

"So you admit you like me?"

"Mr. Bean is more attractive than you."

Antonio made an undignified sound. " Why must you hurt me?"

James snorted and looked up into the sky as he ate his donut. "But really, thanks for keeping me company and also feeding me."

"You're welcome. I wanted some peace with my donuts 'til I met you. And I'm glad I stopped to say hi."

"And shove a donut in my mouth?"

"I would shove something else, but I think we should go on at least three dates first."

James choked on the sweet fried dough. He coughed a few times while Antonio laughed at him, patting his back. "You're terrible!" James choked out.

"You haven't punched me yet."

"Thinking about it now, punk."

They both were quiet again while James recovered to continue eating. Antonio hummed an unfamiliar tune. Silence of words was heavy, but not uncomfortable. James noticed how the other was drumming his fingers along the seat of the bench. He wanted to ask if the other worked with his hands much, but he heard a certain chirping sound. Antonio picked up a very thin like phone. Sort of like the Stark phone he had, but this one was thinner.

"Hey, Eddie, whatcha got?"

"mhm."

"Uhuh."

"Really? Good. I'm coming home. Tell the missus I got donuts... Not sure there's going to be any left when I get home. Be a good boy and daddy loves you." He put the phone away in his pocket. "My son misses me so I gotta go. This was fun, lets do it again. Preferably not at a playground because I don't want to be anywhere you when the cops come."

"You.. Have a son?"

"Course I have a son. Built him myself."

"Built?"

"Yup, built."

"He's a robot?"

"Rude, he's an Artificial Intelligence"

James widened his eyes. "Like, FRIDAY?"

"Friday?"

"Uh.. I mean.. Tony Stark's A.I.?"

 "Tony Stark. Wow, you know him?"

"Ah... I know of him. Everyone knows about his A.I. don't they."

"Oh... Yeah they do I guess. I gotta go. This was pretty nice, Jimbo."

"Yeah it was, Antolian."

"Wanna do it again?"

James thought about it again. "If I can get away next time, sure."

"In this day and age, everyone has a phone. Why don't we just exchange numbers and text and call each other up like little school girls." Antonio squeaked happily.

James barked out a laugh. "Cute."

"Aww, you think I'm cute."

"Bring that voice back again."

"I can wear my hair in pigtails if you desire"

"Just give me your number."

"Demanding." Antonio pulled his phone out and James did the same. They gave each other's number and put their phones away.

"Better get home to the missus, Antolian." 

Antonio got up, stretching his arms. "Yeah I better. Better save her some donuts too or else. See ya, Jimbo." He waved before walking away.

James smiled as he waved back. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed himself. Sadly he would have to return soon back to the others. He wasn't looking forward to that, but he knew he couldn't stay out too long. Steve would get even more worried and bust out of the Tower just to find him.

He got up and looked around. Now, how to get back to the Tower?

"Excuse me, Mr. Barnes?" came a muffled female voice from his pocket. James pulled out his phone. 

"Is that you, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, sir. Would you like me to direct you to the Tower?"

"Was it that obvious that I was lost?"

"Just a tad bit."

"Please lead the way FRIDAY."

"It will be my pleasure."

He walked in the direction he was guided. Time to face the music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? I'm so sorry for this super short chapter, I know I usually write more than this, but I was so busy this week, cuz I recently switched jobs, had to go back and forth to the H.R. person.. which.. really weird. So this job is like an hour away by bus from my home, okay and she told me to come monday morning which I did, only to tell me when I got there to come back wednesday morning for Orientation... Which I'm like.. "You couldn't tell me this over the phone? I wasted half a day just for you to tell me this?" Whatever, right?
> 
> Anyways
> 
> I'd like to think Bucky watched a few modern tv series during his stay in Wakanda so he made a reference.
> 
> Which I cannot take credit for. I was at my new job and over heard this woman talk to one of the stock guys who was flirting with her and she replied.
> 
> "Dude, Mr. Bean is more attractive than you."
> 
> I was like: "Holy shit. Someone give this guy ice for that burn."
> 
> I'm also a meme trashy person so I couldn't resist and if I could connect to the internet with my brain, instead of ruling the world, I'd probably look at memes, Supernatural, Doctor Who, BBC's Sherlock, and of course RDJ related stuff all day.
> 
> RDJ is so adorable don't you think so?
> 
> Good job and good luck to anyone who won that trip to the set with RDJ
> 
> Lucky bitch. (Petty AF author. I apologize. Also I hope you all know I'm joking.) No but really. Congrats on the person who won and gets to meet RDJ and the others. That's gotta be so cool!
> 
> Also, I learned that Tom Holland is the same age as me and I was like : "Oh my god, what am I doing with my life?"
> 
> Love you all and hope you enjoy your day! <3
> 
> Sorry for the long Author's notes xD Love you all so much!


	7. A Home for you and me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Huh? I'm not late with this chapter, I dunno what you're talking about.   
> Totally on time.  
> Totally...
> 
> I'M SORRY, I JUST DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TILL NOW. I KNOW IT'S A SHORT CHAPTER. I KNOW. I'M SORRY.
> 
> Any mistakes are mine!

Tonio was humming to an old rock tune as he stepped through the Main Base doors. He did a raised the almost empty box of donuts in the air as he swayed from side to side in the rhythm of his tune. Some of the newer goons stopped to stare at him, but the others who had been there when he first came knew how he was and ignored him. Tonio waved at those who stared, giving them a bright smile. 

"Daddy's home! Did any of you miss me? Sorry, I ate most the donuts, but I'm not actually sorry. These were really good donuts. I would promise to bring you all some next time, but that would be all a lie since all of these are just so good. I'm just gonna head to my workshop, dudes. As we say in Canada, Lord HYDRA _oot_!"

Once the doors of his workshop closed behind him, Tonio sighed and plopped the box of donuts onto a random table. He was stuffed with sweet, doughy goodness, but he was _home_ now and it was time to work. Phase one was getting rid of Ross without leading any attention towards himself. Phase two was to piss of the Rogue Avengers while keeping the good guys safe. T'Challa did a number in his armor, but that was okay, he expected the Avengers to fight back.

He was proud of himself really. Even though he was extremely angry at Steve, he didn't kill him. And he didn't kill Barnes either! What a good day that was. Tonio's eyes flickered when he raised his hand up in the air. A part of the wall opened up and a Cryomachine was brought towards him. It was one of the older models, but that was fine. They all stopped using the old ones a few years ago, so they wouldn't care if one was missing. But if a newer model went missing, it could raise a red flag and Tonio wasn't taking any chances. He liked his privacy, thank you very much.

"Just a few more codes and screw twists and it'll be ready, don't you think so, Eddie?" Tonio stepped back and admired his work with his hands on his hips. 

"I would agree, Father, if I knew what you intended to use it for. Are you going to put someone inside there?" EDWIN replied with his voice amazingly full of wonder for a recently created A.I.

"Nah, thinking of making snow cones."

"I don't think there's a compartment for that, Father."

"Really? I didn't put that in?" Tonio rubbed his chin as he pretended to be confused.

"No."

"Damn, I guess I gotta freeze someone then, Eddie."

"An excellent choice, Father. Who are you going to freeze?"

Tonio crossed his arms and smirked. "Why, the world's greatest enemy of course. Who else?"

"Captain Rogers? He is still a fugitive everywhere, I believe."

"I'm not surprised. Do I have to do everything myself?"

"It seems that way."

"Hm.. Hey, Eddie, what do you think of your big sister?" Tonio tilted his head, eyes flickering again, and the Cryomachine went back into the wall again.

"FRIDAY? She still seems to be learning, but I do not mind her."

"Good, good... You wouldn't mind hanging out with her?"

"She is my older sister. I would think that family matters no matter how infuriating it is to be together?"

Tonio raised his hand up, and bringing his black and green Armor down. "Sometimes family members can be poisonous and you have to learn to cut them out of your life... But, FRIDAY is still a baby and you are too. I think you two would get along with each other."

"And you'd be there for us to learn how to get along with each other, right?"

He laughed softly and stroked the face of his armor up and down gently. "Let's get this baby fixed up, EDWIN."

"Yes, Father."

"How cute, you and EDWIN chatting up here." Ophelia strolled in. Tonio almost jumped and glared up at the ceiling because EDWIN didn't warn him that someone was coming.

"Hey, Lia, what can I do for you? Upgraded knives? Deadly poison? Poison isn't really my department, but I can learn." Tonio gave his Public Press smile. 

"Well, I wanted to apologize for yelling at you yesterday." She took an eclair from the donut box. " I was upset, but I had forgotten about your brilliant mind. I should have more faith in you. After all, we did grow up in the cold desolate place together after all. It was your quick thinking that brought us home." She raised her donut free hand and waved it above them.

"Yeah, Lia.. Home." His lips twitched. 

"Is there a problem, Tonio?"

"Of course not, I'm just thinking about our strategy for the Avengers."

"Good, that's what I cam here for. For sure, they know it's you and I'm sure they want to sprout lies to bring you back. I don't want you hurt again, so you have to promise me if their words make you question yourself. You have to let me know." 

"That's a weird order, Lia. Is there something you want to tell me?" Tonio joked.

She chuckled and bit into the donut. "I only care about you, and Extremis is still new to us. It's almost a recreation of the Super Soldier Serum, but better. However, it affects the mind and I don't want to wake up one day having a knife to your throat."

"Oh, Ophelia, you do that everyday."

Ophelia rolled her eyes and walked towards the door. " You promise me, Antonio?"

"Yes, Madame HYDRA. I'll obey." He gave a mock salute.

She smiled and left the room, eating the rest of her donut.

Tonio waited a bit and then let out a loud sigh. "Eddie, Eddie, you gotta warn me when someone is heading towards the workshop. She gave me a heart attack.

"My sensors tell me your heart rate, although slightly escalated, is fine. You were in no danger."

"Newsflash, Eddie, everyone here is dangerous."

"Including, Mother?" EDWIN gave a soft whisper.

"I... Oh, Eddie.." He looked up with a frown. "Do... Do you think of her as a mom?"

His son was quiet for a moment, no doubt processing the question and thinking up of an answer. "Is she hazardous to your health?"

"Yeah, she is, buddy."

"... Then, no. It is my duty to protect you, father."

Tonio smiled softly and and held both of his hands up and a soft bright blue orb of coding appeared within them. "Thank you, Eddie..." He brought down the orb close to his chest, his eyes shining the same hue. "I promise soon you'll have a nice home, okay? A home where you, your older siblings will be happy and safe."

"Do you mean FRIDAY, U, BUTTERFINGERS, and DUM-E?" The orb of coding that was EDWIN pulsed each time words were formed.

"Yeah, the safest place where you all can be together." If possible, he held the orb closer to his chest, hugging it tightly.

"And you'll be there right beside us, yes?"

"... I'll always be beside you guys."

"I would like that... Dad."

Tonio slowly dropped onto the ground, tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't trust himself to speak without sobbing. His children were everything to him and they were all that he had. And he was everything to them too. Even if he did bash DUM-E at times for his bad smoothies, it was the thought that counted. He loved all of them. He couldn't imagine a life without them. He couldn't.

They were his first friends. His babies. The only ones who would love him no matter what and miss him when he was gone. FRIDAY and the others must be so worried about him. That was okay. It was going to be over soon. He started this mess and he was going to finish it. He was going to give everyone what they wanted.

He looked up and a screen appeared, showing Sharon Carter aiming a gun at Steve's head and Laura Barton aiming hers at Clint. Another screen appeared beside it and it showed Lila and Cooper drawing in their own room. Peter was with Nathan as he watched the other two. A third screen appeared below and it was of his bots, roaming around the workshop. It was dark in there. It should never be dark in their for his kids. 

Tears streamed down his face as he took a deep breath to clear his throat.

"I would like that too, baby boy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooo, yeiy? I'm sorry it was a short chapter! But But But, the next chapter is gonna be about Badass amazing ladies and guns! And Sharon Carter realizes even more how much Tony cared about her.
> 
> Also, Scott gets punched in the nose... AGAIN.
> 
> I love you all so much and thank you for sticking with me so far!


	8. R.E.S.C.U.E.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Slowly tiptoes and sneaks this chapter in. Slowly sneaks out.-
> 
> -whispers- I'm sorry for being forever late with this chapter.... QwQ
> 
> Any mistakes are mine. Thank you QwQ

What James could describe when he walked in was utter chaos. A brunette woman, who he had never met before was holding a gun and aiming it at Clint Barton's head, and Sharon Carter was aiming her own gun at Steve. A part of him wanted to jump in and attack Sharon for aiming at his childhood friend, but the other part of him reminded him that Steve wasn't a saint. Far from it to be exact. And watching Steve wonder why his girlfriend(or ex-girlfriend?) was pissed made James sigh.

He had taken a wild guess in thinking that Tony and Sharon were cousins, but then again, why wouldn't anyone come to that conclusion? Peggy knew Howard. They were friends. Of course her niece and Howard's son would know each other too. Whether they were close or not was revealed by Sharon.

Tony didn't have to explain himself and he was clearly giving her the space she wanted. 

"Laura, honey, sweetheart. Put the gun down." Clint had his hands up.

"S-Sharon, you should do the same." Steve stammered.

The brunette, Laura, must be Clint's wife. He talked about her and his three kids in Wakanda. She didn't seem so eager to see him at the moment.

"Hmm, I don't know sweetheart. I don't feel like it. Just like how you didn't feel like spending a vacation with us, darling."

Clint went pale. "B-But I had to help Steve. He called a-"

"And you abandoned us to the dogs! Are we less important than your 'Captain"?!"

Steve looked at Laura, inching a bit closer to Clint. "Ma'am, what he did wa-"

"Eyes on me, sugar!" Sharon barked at him.

James had never seen Steve's attention snap in another direction so fast in his life.

"How could you be so heartless to your own husband?!" Screamed the witch. Her fingers twitched as if she was trying to control her powers. James glared at those hands of hers with disgust. He remembered being pinned by her in the air. No way to move. No way to escape.

"This isn't any of your business, so stay out of it! You've helped damage my family long enough. Stay away from us, Witch!" Laura shouted back.

Wanda snarled and raised her hands high, the usual red aura swirling around them. Rhodey and T'Challa who were watching suddenly stiffened. James widened his eyes as well. 

 _She wouldn't_.

The thing was. Yes, yes she would.

Scott, Sam, and Natasha didn't seem to have time to react. They probably thought it was a scare tactic, but even if she was just going to use it to scare the woman, that was still a terrible thing to do. 

"Wanda, don't!" Clint ordered her, but it was too late. She released a burst of energy, aimed at Laura Barton. Laura's hold on the gun wavered as she braced for impact, but James wouldn't let it happen. He dashed forward in front of Laura to protect her from the blast. As soon as he heard Steve shout his name, he shut his eyes tight.

No more innocent people should ever be hurt.

Not again.

It didn't matter if they had a gun or not.

James waited for the attack and the pain from it. But nothing happened. He heard a small gasp when he opened his eyes. 

The robot.... Vision was in front of Wanda. He was looking down at her with such disappointment in his eyes that even James wanted to crumble down on himself. That was the look he got from Steve when he didn't remember one of their childish adventures. 

So it was of no surprise when Wanda stepped back and almost lowered her head. "H-How did you?.."

"Wanda, did you really think you had any control of the mind stone imbedded in me? It was the very artifact that gave you your powers after all. When Mr. Barton told you to use your powers, two things crossed my mind. Number one, our conversations, our friendship.. Our relationship meant nothing to you and you really would attack me."

Wanda opened her mouth to speak, but Vision cut her off before she could interrupt him.

"Or number two, It would mean something. Our time together cooking, our time together understanding each other, and our time seeking comfort in each other. Obviously I hoped for the latter, but it was a fool's dream."

"N-No, Vision. You have to understand. What I did.. I did it protect my family.." Wanda begged. Her eyes filling up with tears for the hundredth time now.

"Interesting, I suppose I'm not a part of that family of yours."

"Of course you are Vision!" She grabbed a hold of him. "You are a apart of our family. I love you!"

Vision was silent, however, he did pull away. "I cannot bring myself to trust you, Wanda. Not after what you did then. And what you did just now. Your anger controls you and your powers. You cannot attack anyone who simply 'pisses' you off. I was angry at all of you within the limousine, yet I did not attack anyone even though everyone had insulted someone close to me."

"Your 'father' killed my parents!" Wanda cried.

"No, he didn't. He wasn't the one who fired it." He turned to Laura. "Mrs. Barton, Mr. Barnes. Are you both all right?"

James nodded dumbfoundedly and so did Laura. Sharon let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she held. Once regaining herself, she turned back to Steve. "This is who you put your faith in, Steve? Not comforting having someone like her on your team."

Steve frowned at Sharon. "She's just distraught right now and Vision certainly isn't helping with that new attitude of his."

"I'll show you a new attitude.." Rhodey murmured and T'Challa bit back a laugh, but he didn't hide his smile.

Once Laura regained her composure she looked at Clint with sad eyes. " I want a divorce."

Clint froze. 

"What?"

"I want a divorce, Clint."

"But... But Laura.. Y-You can't mean that."

She looked defeated, so much anger inside and she wanted to yell at her... husband for everything her and her kids suffered through the past week. But, she was so drained now. The gun that was once in her hand was left ignored on the ground. She didn't bother to pick it up. "I do, Clint. You promised me you wouldn't leave me unless it was important."

"But it was important!"

"Yeah, Clint.. But so is our family.. Do you even know what happened to the farm?"

"What do you mean? What happened to it?" Clint frowned.

"They burned it down, Clint. An hour after we were brought here, FRIDAY showed us a video of men storming in and destroying everything. Everything, Clint. All those memories.. Gone within minutes."

"All because of Sta-"

"Don't you fucking dare blame Tony! He saved us when you abandoned us! Don't you dare, Clint Barton!"

Clint flinched and looked away. How could his wife be against him? If Stark had just listened, just fucking listened to Steve then none of this would have happened. He clenched his fists. Why couldn't his wife see that? So what if Stark brought his family to his Tower, it was still his fault for starting this stupid War in the first place. 

"Here."

Clint almost glared at her until he saw the papers in her hand. "You... Those aren't.."

"They are, Clint. I want you to sign them."

"No."

"You are going to sign in, Clint. We can talk about visitation rights, but I.. I won't have you put my kids in harms way." Laura shook her head. "Not again."

"They're my kids too!"

"Funny, you sure didn't think about them when you ran.."

"I thought about them every second where I was!"

"Good for you, Clint. We can talk about it later while talking about when you you're allowed to see my kids" She shoved the papers into his hands and walked away. Clint was about to protest until he heard the elevator ring. Everyone turned around to see who it was even Laura.

Scott Lang felt like the luckiest man in the world when he saw Hope Van Dyne walk out of those doors. The only thing that would make it even better was if his daughter walked out with Hope too. But he knew he couldn't see her yet. Not until their names were cleared. Scott made a beeline towards her to give her a hug.

The next thing he knew he heard a sickening crunch and he was on the floor. He blinked a few times and groaned when he finally felt the pain hit him. His nose was broken again, what the hell. He looked up at Hope and saw her rub her knuckles. She punched him? Why? Why would she do that?

"W-What was that for?" Scott lifted himself off the ground. He groaned again. He was going to have to see that doctor again in the Tower. How was he going to explain that people liked punching him on the nose for some reason.

"If you don't know then there isn't any hope for us." She stated coldly.

"Is... that a pun?"

She raised her arm and punched Scott in the face again. His poor fucking nose. He heard shouts from Sam, Steve, and Clint, but no one came forward. Knowing Hope, she probably gave them one of her death glares. 

"Shit, Hope, please, not my nose! It's suffered enough!"

"And I'm sure Tony suffered enough too, but you don't hear him here complaining!"

Scott flinched and stepped back. "That's.."

"Give me back the suit, Scott."

"W-What?"

"Give me the suit."

"No, I need it, Hope! I have to help Ca-"

"I swear I'm going to punch you again if you tell me it's to help Captain America. Scott, you stupid bastard, the Ant-Man suit was never for you to just take and use whenever you wanted. You broke my father's trust and mine. You joined a fight that you were never supposed to be a part of. Just because a man who didn't want to follow the rules asked you to? You abandoned me.. No, I don't care anymore that you left me in the middle of the night. I've gotten that out of my system, but you abandoned your daughter, Scott. "

"No, well.. I mean.." Scott tried to defend himself.

"You abandoned your daughter and who was the one to protect her now that he father did something wrong and people were out looking for her and her family. What would have happened if Ross found Cassie?"

"T-They shouldn't know about her a-"

"They're the Government, Scott! They have their ways of finding out every little secret! But, no! You didn't think about the consequences and followed a man who told 117 countries to 'go fuck themselves'!"

Steve notably flinched. James almost, _almost_ felt sorry how the few seemed to be attacking him. But who felt sorry for Tony when everyone was against him?

Only a few.

"But Stark is a terrible person, you said so yourself!"

"My father hates Tony Stark because of his father and my father was the one who told you that. Tony and I are great friends. I have nothing against him. Yeah, he was an ass at times, but when it was just us together we always had a blast traveling. He and I were good friends, Scott."

Scott blanched a bit. "But.. You never said anything.."

"Because I didn't want start another argument with my father with you around. Now, back to the topic, give me the suit."

"Please, Hope. I need it.." he begged.

"Oh, no, you gave up the right to use it when stole it." Hope roughly grabbed Scott's arm to take him to the bedroom, but Wanda stepped in the way. Sam immediately grabbed her gently by the shoulder and pulled her towards him. He didn't want another person to make her feel down like Laura and Vision did. He gave her a gentle squeeze when he hugged her. Wanda looked up at him sadly then back at Hope and Scott when they closed the doors behind them.

"T-That's not fair.. He helped us. She can't just take his suit away." Wanda sniffed.

"Apparently you weren't listening. It wasn't his suit. He stole it." Sharon said.

"Sharon.. He's a hero." Steve sighed.

She glared back at Steve. She had never stopped aiming her gun at Steve. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I've been neglecting you, haven't I?"

Steve sighed in frustration which James thought that was the worst thing to do when he saw the dark change on Sharon's face.

"Peggy!"

Everyone froze and turned to Steve. He looked around and almost choked when he realized what he had said. Who he had called out. Sharon stepped forward as Steve stepped back.

"What?"

"S-Sha-"

"No, that's not what you called me. What. Did. You. Call. Me?"

"I didn't mean.."

" You bastard!" She grabbed Steve's shirt and was about to hit him until Natasha came up behind her and grabbed her waist. Sharon screamed and kicked around to get out of the other's grip. "You fucking bastard!"

"Ms. Romanoff, put her down!" T'Challa ordered, but Natasha didn't follow. 

"She isn't thinking clearly at the moment!"

"And restraining her in such a way will not calm her!"

"S-Sharon.. Please.." Steve tried again.

"I never should have done anything for you, Steve Grant Rogers!" She tried to kick back at Natasha. "Because of you I lost my older brother!"

"Older brother?"

No one was expecting the clanging sound of metal hitting flesh as Sharon reached forward to hit Steve when he was close enough. He had flown back, hitting against Sam and both continued to fly back and hit the wall. She paused and stared at her right hand. She was wearing what looked like Tony's Iron Man gauntlet.

"H-huh?"

Before anyone else could react to what had happened, pieces of Armor flew around and knocked a couple of people down. Natasha was one of them and the other was Steve when he had tried to get up again. Sharon panicked as they all came rushing towards her. She shut her eyes tight as she felt herself being encased by the Armor.

"Hello, Miss Carter. My name is RESCUE which stands for Ronnie's Emergency Suit(in) Case(of) Unexpected Endangerment. How may I be of service?"

When Sharon opened her eyes, she felt disoriented. Everything was dark except for the screen in front of her. She looked down at her body and she was inside a red and gold suit of Armor. "Why am I?.. Why am I wearing Tony's suit?"

"This is not one of Mr. Stark's suits. It is yours, Miss Carter. Specially created for you.

"For me?" Sharon asked, still confused.

FRIDAY decided it was time to explain. "Boss created this suit for you a month after he rebuilt the very first Iron Man suit. He wanted to make sure you were protected at all costs and so as he continued to upgrade Iron Man and War Machine's Armor. He upgraded yours as well, even if there was a chance you were never going to wear or even see the suit, he still made sure you had the best like his because there was still a chance you would wear it."

"He made this for me.. He built this for me..?"

"Yes, even after years of you and him not speaking."

"He.. Built.. this.. For me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Sharon was happy that her face was covered. She had spent years proving herself as a strong woman. She couldn't bear to cry in front of them. Even after when she had blamed Tony for aunt Peggy's condition. Blamed him for all of aunt Peggy's bad days as well, he still cared. He always cared.

"I'm sorry, big brother.." Sharon whispered to herself within the suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really really sorry with this chapter.. I... Was planning on making it longer, but realizing that how late this chapter was, I decided this was a good amount for a chapter and ended it here. QwQ I'm sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> I do hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry for those who don't. I know I don't know much about the comics, so sorry for those were unhappy with where I'm going with this. Like I said, It's a mixture of both worlds with my own story line thrown in.   
> I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ALL DESERVE THE BEST. I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!


End file.
